My Health in My Hands: Improving Medication Abortion Knowledge and Closing Disparities with a Community-Led Media Intervention

Hayley V McMahon; Leslie Serrano; Teja Vyavahare; Indya Hairston; Sequoia Ayala; Zainab Jah; Tiffany Hailstorks; Dázon D Diallo; Elizabeth A Mosley

doi:10.1089/heq.2023.0210

My Health in My Hands: Improving Medication Abortion Knowledge and Closing Disparities with a Community-Led Media Intervention

Health Equity. 2024 Feb 29;8(1):138-142. doi: 10.1089/heq.2023.0210. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Hayley V McMahon^{1

2}, Leslie Serrano^{1

2}, Teja Vyavahare³, Indya Hairston³, Sequoia Ayala⁴, Zainab Jah⁵, Tiffany Hailstorks^{2

6}, Dázon D Diallo³, Elizabeth A Mosley^{1

2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
² The Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast (RISE), Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
³ SisterLove, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁴ The Raben Group, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
⁵ National Birth Equity Collaborative, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
⁶ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁷ Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

Purpose: Inaccurate beliefs about medication abortion (MA) are common. This study evaluated pilot data from a community-led media intervention designed to increase MA knowledge among Black and Latinx women in Georgia.

Methods: Participants (N=855) viewed the intervention video and completed pre-post surveys. Data were analyzed using linear and logistic regression.

Results: Knowledge scores significantly increased from 3.88/5.00 to 4.47/5.00. Participants who were Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander, multiracial, Black, <20 years old, and living in Georgia scored below the sample mean at baseline; however, nearly all disparities disappeared after intervention exposure.

Conclusions: This intervention effectively increased MA knowledge and narrowed racial/ethnic, age-based, and geographic disparities.

Keywords: community-based participatory research; community-led research; health literacy; medication abortion; reproductive justice.