title: Social media-based civic engagement solutions for dengue prevention in Sri Lanka: results of receptivity assessment.
abstract: This article focuses on a novel social media-based system that addresses dengue prevention through an integration of three components: predictive surveillance, civic engagement and health education. The aim was to conduct a potential receptivity assessment of this system among smartphone users in the city of Colombo, the epicenter of the dengue epidemic in the island country of Sri Lanka. Grounded in Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and using a convenience sampling approach, the cross-sectional survey assessed perceived severity (PSe), perceived susceptibility (PSu), perceived response efficacy (PRE), perceived self-efficacy (PSE) and intention-to-use (IU) among 513 individuals. The overall receptivity to the system was high with a score of >4.00 on a five-point scale. Participants belonging to younger, better educated and higher income groups reported significantly better perceptions of the efficaciousness of the system, were confident in their ability to use the system, and planned to use it in the future. PMT variables contributed significantly to regression models predicting IU. We concluded that a social media-based system for dengue prevention will be positively received among Colombo residents and a targeted, strategic health communication effort to raise dengue-related threat perceptions will be needed to encourage greater adoption and use of the system.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and.
authors.forename: May O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Lwin
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and santoshv@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vijaykumar
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and.
authors.forename: Schubert
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Foo
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and.
authors.forename: Owen Noel Newton
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Fernando
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and.
authors.forename: Gentatsu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore and.
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Panchapakesan
authors.affiliation: School of Computing, University of Colombo, Colombo 00300, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wimalaratne
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003715:Dengue / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061108:Social Media; D013188:Sri Lanka; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult