Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Centre for Global Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2016 Apr;36(4):63-75. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.36.4.01.
Social media use has been increasing in public health and health promotion because it can remove geographic and physical access barriers. However, these interventions also have the potential to increase health inequities for people who do not have access to or do not use social media. In this paper, we aim to assess the effects of interactive social media interventions on health outcomes, behaviour change and health equity.
We conducted a rapid response overview of systematic reviews. We used a sensitive search strategy to identify systematic reviews and included those that focussed on interventions allowing two-way interaction such as discussion forums, social networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), blogging, applications linked to online communities and media sharing.
Eleven systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria. Most interventions addressed by the reviews included online discussion boards or similar strategies, either as stand-alone interventions or in combination with other interventions. Seven reviews reported mixed effects on health outcomes and healthy behaviours. We did not find disaggregated analyses across characteristics associated with disadvantage, such as lower socioeconomic status or age. However, some targeted studies reported that social media interventions were effective in specific populations in terms of age, socioeconomic status, ethnicities and place of residence. Four reviews reported qualitative benefits such as satisfaction, finding information and improved social support.
Social media interventions were effective in certain populations at risk for disadvantage (youth, older adults, low socioeconomic status, rural), which indicates that these interventions may be effective for promoting health equity. However, confirmation of effectiveness would require further study. Several reviews raised the issue of acceptability of social media interventions. Only four studies reported on the level of intervention use and all of these reported low use. More research on established social media platforms with existing social networks is needed, particularly in populations at risk for disadvantage, to assess effects on health outcomes and health equity.
社交媒体在公共卫生和健康促进中的使用日益增多，因为它可以消除地理和物理上的获取障碍。然而，这些干预措施也有可能增加那些无法获取或不使用社交媒体的人的健康不平等。本文旨在评估互动式社交媒体干预对健康结果、行为改变和健康公平的影响。
我们对系统评价进行了快速反应综述。我们使用了一个敏感的搜索策略来识别系统评价，并纳入了那些专注于允许双向互动的干预措施的系统评价，例如讨论论坛、社交网络（如 Facebook 和 Twitter）、博客、与在线社区链接的应用程序和媒体共享。
有 11 项系统评价符合我们的纳入标准。大多数综述所涉及的干预措施包括在线讨论板或类似策略，要么作为独立的干预措施，要么与其他干预措施结合使用。有 7 项综述报告了对健康结果和健康行为的混合影响。我们没有发现按与劣势相关的特征（如低社会经济地位或年龄）进行的分解分析。然而，一些有针对性的研究报告称，社交媒体干预在特定人群中（如年龄、社会经济地位、族裔和居住地）是有效的。有 4 项综述报告了定性益处，如满意度、获取信息和改善社会支持。
社交媒体干预在某些处于劣势风险的人群中是有效的（年轻人、老年人、低社会经济地位、农村地区），这表明这些干预措施可能有助于促进健康公平。然而，还需要进一步的研究来确认其有效性。有几项综述提出了社交媒体干预的可接受性问题。只有四项研究报告了干预措施的使用水平，而且所有这些研究都报告了低水平的使用。需要对现有的社交网络中使用成熟的社交媒体平台进行更多的研究，特别是在处于劣势风险的人群中，以评估对健康结果和健康公平的影响。
