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Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives.

ABSTRACT: Young people are increasingly turning to social media for health-related information in areas such as physical activity, diet/nutrition and body image. Yet, there are few robust empirical accounts of the content and form of the health-related material young people access and attend to, or the health-related content they create and share. Furthermore, there is little guidance from research or policy on young people's engagement with health-related social media. This leaves many relevant adults ill-equipped to protect young people from the negative influences of social media and to optimize the potential of social media as a medium for health promotion. This article presents new evidence on young people's engagement with social media and the influences they report on their health-related behaviors. The research was undertaken with 1296 young people (age 13-18) using a participatory mixed methods design. Initially, a public pedagogy [Giroux, 2004. Public pedagogy and the politics of neo-liberalism: Making the political more pedagogical. Policy Futures in Education, 2, 494-503] theoretical framework was used to guide data analysis but this was found to be limiting. An adapted framework was developed, therefore, drawing on Miller et al. [2016. How the world changed social media. London: UCL Press] and Lomborg [2011. Social media as communicative genres. Journal of Media and Communication Research, 51, 55-71] to account for the unique ways in which pedagogy operates in a social media context. Young people accessed and used a range of health-related information on body transformations, diet/nutritional supplements or recipes and workouts/exercises, albeit in different ways. Moreover, young people identified five forms of content that influenced their understandings and behaviours: (i) automatically sourced content; (ii) suggested or recommended content; (iii) peer content; (iv) likes; (v) reputable content. The findings also suggest that relevant adults can reduce risk and realize more of the positive impacts of social media for young people by focusing on content, and the ways in which content is shaped in the interplay between interactive functionalities of social media (e.g. likes and followers) and young people's social uses of social media (e.g. friends, information).

SUBMITTER: Goodyear VA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6859869 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives.

Goodyear Victoria A VA Armour Kathleen M KM Wood Hannah H

Sport, education and society 20180125 7

Young people are increasingly turning to social media for health-related information in areas such as physical activity, diet/nutrition and body image. Yet, there are few robust empirical accounts of the content and form of the health-related material young people access and attend to, or the health-related content they create and share. Furthermore, there is little guidance from research or policy on young people's engagement with health-related social media. This leaves many relevant adults il ...[more]

PMID: 31814804

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Project description:IntroductionSocial media use (SMU) is highly prevalent amongst young people and previous research suggests an association with mental health problems, including poor body image. However, the potential relationship between SMU and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has received little attention. Furthermore, little is known about the factors that moderate the potential association between SMU and body dysmorphic symptoms. The current study tested the associations between three facets of SMU and body dysmorphic symptoms and explored perfectionism as a moderator in a non-clinical sample.MethodTwo-hundred and nine 16-18-year-olds (mean age = 16.5 years, 37% male) recruited from schools in London completed an online survey measuring aspects of SMU, including: frequency of image-and text-based SMU; motivations for SMU (appearance, popularity, connection or values and interests); and active and passive SMU. Participants additionally completed validated measures of body dysmorphic symptoms, perfectionism, and anxiety/depressive symptoms. Linear regression models tested the association of body dysmorphic symptoms with different facets of SMU, with and without adjustment for age, sex and anxiety/depressive symptoms.ResultsFrequency of use of image-based, but not text-based, platforms was significantly and positively associated with body dysmorphic symptoms, and this association remained significant in the adjusted models. Appearance-based motivation for SMU was the only motivator uniquely associated with body dysmorphic symptoms across the unadjusted and adjusted models. Passive, not active, SMU was associated with body dysmorphic symptoms in unadjusted models, but this association became non-significant in the adjusted models. Self-oriented perfectionism moderated the association between frequency of image-based SMU and body dysmorphic symptoms.DiscussionImage-based SMU, and appearance-based motivations for SMU, are positively associated with body dysmorphic symptoms. Self-oriented perfectionism may amplify the relationship between SMU and body dysmorphic symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of a nuanced approach to examining SMU, and the need for further research to determine whether specific facets of SMU contribute to the development and/or maintenance of body dysmorphic symptoms.

Project description:BackgroundAlthough a number of studies have investigated how consumers use social media for health-related purposes, there is a paucity of studies in the Australian context.ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore how Australian consumers used social media for health-related purposes, specifically how they identified social media platforms, which were used, and which health-related activities commonly took place.MethodsA total of 5 focus groups (n=36 participants), each lasting 60 to 90 minutes, were conducted in the Sydney metropolitan area. The group discussions were audiorecorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded line-by-line and thematically analyzed.ResultsParticipants used general search engines to locate health-related social media platforms. They accessed a wide range of social media on a daily basis, using several electronic devices (in particular, mobile phones). Although privacy was a concern, it did not prevent consumers from fully engaging in social media for health-related purposes. Blogs were used to learn from other people's experiences with the same condition. Facebook allowed consumers to follow health-related pages and to participate in disease-specific group discussions. Wikipedia was used for factual information about diseases and treatments. YouTube was accessed to learn about medical procedures such as surgery. No participant reported editing or contributing to Wikipedia or posting YouTube videos related to health topics. Twitter was rarely used for health-related purposes. Social media allowed consumers to obtain and provide disease and treatment-related information and social and emotional support for those living with the same condition. Most considered their participation as observational, but some also contributed (eg, responded to people's questions).ConclusionsParticipants used a wide range of social media for health-related purposes. Medical information exchange (eg, disease and treatment) and social and emotional support were the cornerstones of their online activities. Social media appears to be used as a key tool to support disease self-management.

Project description:BackgroundSocial media is increasingly being used by young people for health-related issues, including communicating about suicide. Due to the concerns about causing distress or inducing suicidal thoughts or behaviors, to date young people neither have been engaged in the development of social media-based suicide prevention interventions nor have interventions focused on educating young people about safe ways to communicate about suicide online. Given the potential that social media holds to deliver messages to vast numbers of people across space and time and the fact that young people often prefer to seek help from their friends and peers, safely educating and engaging young people to develop suicide prevention messages that can be delivered via social media is an obvious next step.ObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to (1) provide education to a small number of secondary school students about safe ways to communicate about suicide via social media; (2) engage the same young people in the development of a suite of social media-based suicide prevention multimedia messages; (3) assess the impact of this on participants; and (4) assess the acceptability and safety of the messages developed.MethodsThis study involved two phases. In phase 1, 20 participants recruited from two schools took part in an 8- to 10-week program during which they were provided with psychoeducation about mental health and suicide, including how to talk safely about suicide online, and they were then supported to design and develop their own media messages. These participants completed an evaluation questionnaire at the conclusion of the program. In phase 2, a larger group of participants (n=69), recruited via an opt-in process, viewed the media messages and completed a short questionnaire about each one.ResultsParticipants in phase 1 enjoyed the program and reported that they learned new skills, such as how to talk safely about suicide online, and felt more able to provide emotional support to others (16/20, 80%). No participants reported that the program made them feel suicidal. Participants in phase 2 generally rated the media messages as safe and acceptable, although some messages were rated more highly than others.ConclusionsThis study suggests that young people can be safely engaged in developing suicide prevention messages, which can be disseminated via social media. Engaging young people in this process may improve the traction that such campaigns will have with other young people. The study also suggests that educating young people regarding how to talk safely about suicide online has multiple benefits and is not associated with distress. Overall, these findings pave the way for new approaches to prevent suicide among young people.

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Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives.

Publications

Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives.

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