Social media intervention for promoting breastfeeding among WIC participants.

Social media have emerged as a promising communication channel for promoting breastfeeding among a new generation of mothers. Yet, there is no published study reporting the effects of a large-scale social media intervention on key breastfeeding-related perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. As a component of its breastfeeding promotion campaign, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program implemented a 12-month intervention using Facebook and Instagram and subsequently evaluated the outcomes by surveying WIC-participating women ( N  = 832) twice, immediately before and after the intervention. Based on their level of exposure to the intervention messages, the women were retrospectively classified into two groups, resulting in a two-group (no-low exposure vs. medium-high exposure) quasi-experiment. Women in the medium-high exposure group, in comparison with women in the no-low exposure group, exhibited higher campaign awareness ( p  < .001), visits to the campaign website ( p  < .001), and engagement with the website content ( p  < .001). They also reported more positive breastfeeding attitudes ( M  = 17.26 vs. M  = 16.51, p  < .05), self-efficacy ( M  = 54.48 vs. M  = 49.94, p  < .01), and social support ( M  = 27.37 vs. M  = 25.11, p  < .001). But they did not differ from women in the no-low exposure group in breastfeeding initiation ( p  > .05) and duration ( p  > .05). In conclusion, a social media-based intervention resulted in more positive breastfeeding attitudes, higher self-efficacy, and higher perceived social support. Future studies need to investigate the optimal level of intervention message dosage that prompts significant behavioral changes.