PC2081: Feed, Read, and Grow: Health Promotional Videos in a Public Library System

Purpose/Objectives: Feed, Read, and Grow is a multidisciplinary collaboration based in the Roanoke Public Libraries that aims to improve access to health, food, and literacy in the community. In this specific project, we are using educational YouTube videos, featuring an original song with clear health-related messages. The songs and videos are produced in English and Spanish by pediatricians, personal trainers, librarians, and the health analyst and singer-songwriter Carolina Smales, known by the stage name of Carol Joy.

Design/Methods: With intention of receiving feedback, we had participants view one video from the Nutrition series (Fruits) and one video from the Exercise series (Cardio). Participants filled out a questionnaire to determine their understanding of the video’s message, their likelihood in sharing the video with others, and any general comments to improve the videos’ quality and generalizability before releasing them to the general public.

Results: Sample proportions along with one sample tests of proportions were conducted. All p-values correspond to a null hypothesis that the true population proportion is 50% and p-values less than 0.05 indicate evidence suggesting the true population proportion is not 50% . For the baseline introductory video, 57 individuals responded with 96.6% (p < .01) indicating positive emotion. For the fruit educational video, 57 individuals responded with 91.1% (p < .01) indicating positive emotion and 49.1% ( p = 0.89) indicating they learned something new. For the exercise educational video, 56 individuals responded with 92.5% (p < 0.01) indicating positive emotion and 51.8% (p = 0.79) indicating they learned something new. Narrative feedback suggests desired improvement in video quality and in diversity of educational experts.

Conclusion/Discussion: In collecting feedback from this group of community providers, we have a better understanding of how to improve the current videos to increase their quality and generalizability. While creating and editing future videos, our primary goals will be to be representative of the community we want to serve. We are enthusiastic about the initial reception of the videos and look forward to collecting more feedback from different groups in the community.