Toward the Heart: Social Media Tool for Harm Reduction Knowledge Exchange in British Columbia, Canada

Despina Tzemis, Michaela Montaner, Jane A Buxton Harm Reduction Program Email: [email protected]

Webpage: towardtheheart.com

Twitter:@towardtheheart

Outline

• • • • • • • • Background: BC’s Harm Reduction Program Objective Methods Webpage: Toward the Heart Electronic Magazine (e’Zine) Naloxone webpage launch Discussion Questions 2

Who we are 3

BC Harm Reduction Program

• BC CDC coordinates: ▫ Harm Reduction Strategies and Services Committee ▫ Drug Overdose and Alert Partnership Committee • Committees: ministry of health , health authorities, first nations input, & people who use drugs, among other stakeholders.

• Develop evidence-based policies, training resources, proper messaging & distribute supplies to reduce drug related harms. www.towardtheheart.com

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Objective

• To describe and evaluate the dissemination tools used by the BC Harm Reduction Program to facilitate best practice harm reduction knowledge exchange between the province, health authorities, service providers, and clients 5

Methods

• • • Google Analytics Email monitoring (MailChimp ) Descriptive: Facebook and Twitter 6

www.towardtheheart.com

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There is more than just needles… 9

Supplies available

Safer sex Safer Injection Safer Inhalation 10 http://towardtheheart.com/

Google Analytics (Apr 1 – Nov 12)

Overview

• Tot. visits 5,332 (3,841 unique (72%)) • Avg. 2.87 webpages viewed/visit • Avg. visit duration 2:36min • Canada (59%), USA (23%) • BC 2,594(82%) 11

Google Analytics (Apr 1 – Nov 12)

• Traffic sources Referral 1. Facebook 215 2. Google 180 3. HelloCoolWorld 150 4. BCCDC 144 5. PacificAIDSNetwork 42 12

http://towardtheheart.com/join-us 13

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Email monitoring

Issue 1 – July 5 th • • • Total emails sent: 326 Email clicks: 138 (42%) Email fwd tool: used 33x to send to 50 recipients 15

47 13 23

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Link with Google Analytics

Issue 1

– July 5th

Issue 2

– Sept 24th 17

Link with Google Analytics

Hmmm....

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www.towardtheheart.com/naloxone 19

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E-mail monitoring

• • Campaign – Naloxone Webpage (August 31 st ) • Sent: 168 • Open: 79 (47%) Clicks: 37 (22%) Bounce: 14 (8%) • Note: campaign may have conflicted with summer holiday. May also explain the second peak.

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facebook.com/towardtheheart @towardtheheart 22

Discussion

• Evaluation of webpage ensures good use of limited human, fiscal, and technical resources • Expert needed to evaluate webpage • • • Challenge to allocate time for social media in workday Ensure enough time for supervisors to review/approve campaign materials Need annual update of e-mail distribution list in environments with high turnover 23

Conclusion

• Toward the Heart is a successful tool for disseminating info to Harm Reduction sites in BC • Toward the Heart is a resource for harm reduction programs in Canada, the US, and others around the world 24

Thank you!

• Questions?

• Contact information: Despina Tzemis, Harm Reduction Program [email protected]

www.towardtheheart.com

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