The director of B'more for Healthy Babies and the Early Learning Programming at the Center for Restorative Change presented on how effective cellphones and social media platforms were to engage families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stacey Stephens, MSW, LCSW-C, delivered the oral presentation “Social Media and Cell Phones: Advancing Perinatal and Parenting Education” that highlighted ways that the Center for Restorative Change’s B’more for Healthy Babies (BHB) Upton/Druid Heights and the Early Childhood (EC) team engaged residents and families via cellphones and social media platforms given the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BHB/EC team is viewed as a trusted source of information in local communities and an aid in guiding families in their educational and health care decision-making. BHB/EC recognized that expectant and parenting families easily accessed social media during the pandemic to receive important information.
To address lost opportunities for in-person education, BHB/EC staff created and posted culturally relevant educational information and short videos on safe sleep practices, breastfeeding, health literacy, and nutrition and literacy skills on Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube for Black women, and birthing and parenting people. The Instagram reels, flyers, infographics, and short videos highlighted four Black mothers sharing their breastfeeding insights, eight community partners reading beloved children’s books to promote summer reading, and a local chef presenting cooking demonstrations of food that could boost the immune system.
Over the past two years, 330 educational and informational social media posts were uploaded on the BHB/EC website. The summer reading series had 80,000 views, and 200 viewers saw the breastfeeding stories. In addition, 231 viewers watched the nutrition video series and learned how to cook healthy meals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qz9DTXbZNM&list=PLjefoNoAoQ1zJ9J0BC2eePSaPjew90lol&index=2
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