Incorporating co-design principles and social media strategies to enhance cross-sectional online survey participation: The Birth Experience Study.

AIM: To use co-design principles to design a nationwide maternity experiences survey and to distribute the survey through social media.

DESIGN: A co-designed, cross sectional, and national online survey.

METHODS: Using co-design principles from study design and throughout the research process a cross-sectional, online, national survey of Australian women's experiences of maternity care was designed. Four validated survey instruments were included in the survey design.

RESULTS: An extensive social media strategy was utilized, which included paid advertising, resulting in 8804 surveys for analysis and 54,896 comments responding to open text questions.

DISCUSSION: The inclusion of co-design principles contributed to a well-designed survey and consumer involvement in distribution and support of the online survey. The social media distribution strategy contributed to high participation rates with overall low marketing costs.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Maternity services should be designed to provide woman-centered, individualized care. This survey was co-designed with maternity users and maternity organizations to explore women's recent experiences of maternity care in Australia. The outcomes of this study will highlight the factors that contribute to positive and negative experiences in maternity services.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: As a co-designed study, there was consumer engagement from the design of the study, throughout the research process.