Digital Media for Health Outcomes: Evaluation Study of a Massive Online Open Course

Digital media has emerged as a vital tool for the rapid dissemination of public health information to vast audiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media-based health communication kept audiences informed, encouraged health-seeking behaviors, and helped address rampant misinformation. However, the impact of these digital communications was limited by a lack of training in leveraging online advertising tools, behavioral insights, and marketing practices to target, test, and scale social behavioral communications for health. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted an urgent need for greater capacity among public health organizations to rapidly develop and deploy impactful, evidence-based digital campaigns.

This study aimed to evaluate changes in learner confidence and perceived ability to implement key skills after taking a massive online open course on digital campaign creation.

Digital Media for Health Outcomes was launched in May 2023 to train public health practitioners in all steps of campaign development, from evidence and insights collection to outcome evaluation. In April 2025, course performance was evaluated using a pre-post survey design. Learners were asked to complete identical surveys before and after completing the course. Question topics included basic demographic information and learners' confidence and experience in applying key campaign development skills. Learners were also asked to rate their confidence in using digital media to drive health outcomes before and after taking the course, and their perceived importance, ease, likelihood, and effectiveness of doing so. Proportions and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for confidence questions, and proportion changes were compared between the baseline and endline surveys. All analyses were conducted using Stata (Special Edition 18; StataCorp).

As of April 2025, the course had enrolled 14,170 individuals in 9 language versions, representing over 160 unique countries from all global regions. A total of 4392 learners completed the baseline survey, and 634 completed the course and endline survey. Most course completers came from Chile (240/634, 38%) and the United States (69/634, 11%). Learners who completed the course reported significantly higher confidence (+18%, 95% CI 17%-20%) in their perceived ability to use digital media to drive health outcomes and in applying skills associated with effective campaign development, including leveraging behavioral insights (+16%, 95% CI 14%-18%) and evaluating campaign outcomes (+28%, 95% CI 26%-29%). Overall, 92% (583/634) of course completers felt that the course had met most, all, or exceeded their expectations, and 85% (539/634) indicated that they would recommend the course to a colleague.

Performance evaluation of the Digital Media for Health Outcomes course suggests the potential of an expert-led, practice-based massive open online course to improve confidence and skill level in leveraging digital media for effective health communication among public health professionals. Further capacity strengthening is needed to encourage skill application.