Is it possible to teach good health practices using social media?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i12.20600Keywords:
Distance education; Health education; Hybrid teaching; Social media; Teaching.Abstract
Social media represents a powerful weapon to promote health education. The aim of the present study was to investigate how health information is discussed and disseminated by people who do not have specific academic certification but are legitimized due to their experiences. We conducted a narrative review of the literature published from 2016 to 2021 in PubMed, using the search terms “Social Media”, “Health” and “Education”, and their variations according to MeSH. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which evaluated the use of social media to disseminate health information content were included in the analysis. Despite the undeniable role of social media in disseminating content concerning health practices, the use of these platforms without proper scientific support or academic certification by so-called health influencers can promote questionable content. A number of studies demonstrate that content published on social media can negatively influence the health of users. Greater scientific rigor and professional training could contribute to guarantee reliability of data regarding health information shared on social media. More studies must assess the relevance of using virtual tools for sharing content aimed at improving health and scientific reliability.
References
Alanzi, T., & Al-Habib, D. K. (2020). The Use of Social Media by Healthcare Quality Personnel in Saudi Arabia. J Environ Public Health. 2020:1417478.
Al-Eisa, E, Al-Rushud, A., Alghadir, A., Anwer, S., Al-Harbi, B., Al-Sughaier, N., Al-Yoseef, N., Al-Otaibi, R., & Al-Muhaysin, H. A. (2016). Effect of Motivation by "Instagram" on Adherence to Physical Activity among Female College Students. Biomed Res Int.2016:1546013.
Carpenter, J. P., Morrison, S. A., Craft, M., & Lee, M. (2020). How and why are educators using Instagram? Teach Educ. 96:103149.
El Bialy, S., & Jalali, A. (2015). Go Where the Students Are: A Comparison of the Use of Social Networking Sites Between Medical Students and Medical Educators. JMIR Med Educ. 1(2):e7.
Engeln, R., Loach, R., Imundo, M. N. & Zola, A. (2020). Compared to Facebook, Instagram use causes more appearance comparison and lower body satisfaction in college women. Body Image, (34), 38-45.
Fioravanti, G., Prostamo, A., & Casale, S. (2020). Taking a Short Break from Instagram: Th Effects on Subjective Well-Being. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 23(2),107-112.
Gesser-Edelsburg, A., Abed, E. S. N., Cohen, R., Mir, H. A., Hijazi, R., Paz-Yaakobovitch, G. & Birman, Y. (2019). Differences in Perceptions of Health Information Between the Public and Health Care Professionals: Nonprobability Sampling Questionnaire Survey. J Med Internet Res, 21 (7), e14105.
Goodyear, V. A, Armour, K. M. & Wood, H. (2018). Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives. Sport Educ Soc, 24 (7), 673-688.
Hanley, S. M., Watt, S. E., & Coventry, W. (2019). Taking a break: The effect of taking a vacation from Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being. PLoS One, 14(6).
Holland, G. & Tiggemann, M. (2017)."Strong beats skinny every time": Disordered eating and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on Instagram. Int J Eat Disord, 50(1), 76-79.
Jenkins, E. L., Ilicic, J., Barklamb, A. M. & McCaffrey, T. A. (2020). Assessing the Credibility and Authenticity of Social Media Content for Applications in Health Communication: Scoping Review. J Med Internet Res, 22(7):e17296.
Jenkins, E. L., Ilicic, J., Molenaar, A., Chin, S. & McCaffrey, T. A. (2020). Strategies to Improve Health Communication: Can Health Professionals be Heroes? Nutrients, 12 (6):1861.
Muralidhara, S. & Paul, M. J. (2018). #Healthy Selfies: Exploration of Health Topics on Instagram. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 4(2):e10150.
Pilgrim, K., & Bohnet-Joschko, S. (2019). Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and exercise: mixed methods research. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1054.
Pizzuti, A. G., Patel, K. H., McCreary, E. K., Heil, E., Bland, C. M., Chinaeke, E., Love, B. L., & Bookstaver, P. B. (2020). Healthcare practitioners' views of social media as an educational resource. PLoS One. 15(2):e0228372.
Prichard, I., Kavanagh, E., Mulgrew, K. E., Lim, M. S. C. & Tiggemann, M. (2020). The effect of Instagram #fitspiration images on young women's mood, body image, and exercise behaviour. Body Image, (33), 1-6.
Slater, A., Varsani, N., & Diedrichs, P. C. (2017). #fitspo or #loveyourself? The impact of fitspiration and self-compassion Instagram images on women's body image, self-compassion, and mood. Body Image, (22), 87-96.
Tiggemann, M., Hayden, S., Brown, Z., & Veldhuis, J. (2018). The effect of Instagram "likes" on women's social comparison and body dissatisfaction. Body Image,(26), 90-97.
Turner, P. G. & Lefevre, C. E. (2017). Instagram use is linked to increased symptoms of orthorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord, 22 (2), 277-284.
Turner, P. G., & Lefevre, C. E. (2017). Instagram use is linked to increased symptoms of orthorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord, 22(2), 277-284.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Santiago Tavares Paes; Stephania Neves Scapim; Carlos Gabriel de Lade; Helder Barra de Moura; Helder Zimmerman de Oliveira; Fernanda Dias Coelho; Raphael Soares; Marcionilio Neto
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
