Community building and knowledge sharing by individuals with disabilities using social media

Sweet, Kayla S.; LeBlanc, Jennifer K.; Stough, Laura M.; Sweany, Noelle Wall

doi:10.1111/jcal.12377

Cited by 62 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…After analysing the interviews collected from a group of 15 subjects, they found that the use of social media helped them to build social support and health psychological dispositions. The results of the systematic literature review performed by Sweet et al revealed that there are many reports indicating the positive aspects of social media use by people with disabilities, including gaining knowledge, forming friendships and creating social support groups [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours of Persons with Disabilities

Duplaga

Szulc

2019

IJERPH

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Introduction: There is strong evidence that people with disabilities suffer from a significant digital divide. However, there are reports indicating that Internet use may result in many benefits for those with disabilities. The aim of the study was to assess the impact that the use of the Internet has on the wellbeing and health behaviours of persons with disabilities. Methods: An analysis was carried out using the dataset obtained from Social Diagnosis, a panel study undertaken on a nationally representative sample. The records of persons with disabilities were retrieved from the dataset which was established in 2015. An analysis of the association between Internet use and the wellbeing, mental health and health behaviours of the respondents was undertaken. The variables reflecting the self-assessment of their own life and experience of loneliness were treated as being indicators of their wellbeing and the prevalence of suicidal thoughts or making use of psychological help as indicators of mental health. The health behaviours analysed in the study included smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol and undertaking physical activity. For all these variables, multivariate logistic regression models were developed. The effect of Internet use was adjusted for sociodemographic variables and the degree of disability. An analysis was performed after applying post-stratification weights available from the Social Diagnosis study. Results: The weighted study group consisted of 2529 people having a mean age of 59.33 ± 16.89 years. The group included 20.71% (N = 524) respondents with a mild, 41.58% (N = 1052) with a moderate, and 26.54% (N = 671) with a severe disability. The proportion of Internet users was 37.07% (N = 937). In all the regression models, Internet use had a significant impact on the dependent variables. After adjustment for sociodemographic variables and the degree of disability, the Internet users more frequently assessed their lives as happy (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.86, 1.47–2.37) and less frequently experienced loneliness (0.63, 0.49–0.81) or suicidal thoughts (0.47, 0.35–0.65). In addition, they needed psychological help less frequently (0.50, 0.35–0.72). Interestingly, Internet users undertook some form of physical activity or sport more often (2.41, 1.87–3.13) and fewer smoked cigarettes (0.70, 0.54–0.91) or consumed alcohol excessively (0.32, 0.19–0.56). Conclusions: The use of the Internet by people with disabilities was associated with improved wellbeing, better mental health and more beneficial health behaviours. These findings support the development of intensive actions to reduce the digital divide for the population of people with disabilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours of Persons with Disabilities

Duplaga

Szulc

2019

IJERPH

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“…Social media have the potential to support many useful activities for people with disabilities, including social and informational (Caton; Chapman, 2016; Ellis; Kent, 2016; McNeil; Brna; Gordon, 2012). Interpersonal interactions on the social web can help people with disabilities to form identities and communities through connections with likeminded others (Miller, 2017;Sweet;LeBlanc;Stough;Sweany, 2020), to gain support against bullying (Sweet; LeBlanc; Stough; Sweany, 2020) and publish their own self-descriptions and narratives (Gale; Bolzan, 2016). This can extend to online activism, coordinating and publicising through social media sites (Pearson;Trevisan, 2015) and blogs (Trevisan, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retweeting Covid-19 disability issues: Risks, support and outrage

Thelwall

2020

EPI

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The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly uneven impacts on sectors of society. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to it and so it is important to understand both the disability perspective and the role of social media. This information may help to reduce the risk from the disease. In response, this article uses thematic analysis to investigate 59 disability-related tweets from March 10 to April 4, 2020 that were retweeted at least 500 times, with a quarter of a million retweets altogether. This approach generates quick insights into widely resonating disability-related issues. The results suggest the value of Twitter for disseminating information about the risk, offers or requests for support, the ability of many people with disabilities to adjust to the changes well, and information about individuals with the disease. In addition, there was outrage at suggestions that the disease was less serious because young people without disabilities were relatively low risk, and that people with disabilities might be denied equal access to medical treatment. As one tweet pointed out, people in less vulnerable categories should not be told on Twitter or elsewhere that the disease is less relevant to them because their actions can impact others through social spreading.

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“…Future research should capture more exposure data and identify the behavioral responses to advertisements between heavy and light users of social media. Although heavy social media use concerns parents and researchers alike [13,34] [35], especially for marginalized groups seeking connectedness and acceptance [36][37][38][39][40][41].…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Extent of Adolescents’ Willingness to Engage With Food and Beverage Companies’ Instagram Accounts: Experimental Survey Study

Lutfeali¹,

Ward²,

Greene³

et al. 2020

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background Social media platforms have created a new advertising frontier, yet little is known about the extent to which this interactive form of advertising shapes adolescents’ online relationships with unhealthy food brands. Objective We aimed to understand the extent to which adolescents’ preferences for Instagram food ads are shaped by the presence of comments and varying numbers of “likes.” We hypothesized that adolescents would show the highest preferences for ads with more “likes” and comments. We predicted that these differences would be greater among adolescents who were “heavy social media users” (ie, >3 hours daily) vs “light social media users” (ie, <3 hours daily). Methods We recruited Black and non-Latinx White adolescents (aged 13-17 years; N=832) from Dynata, a firm that maintains online participant panels. Participants completed an online survey in which they were randomized to view and rate Instagram food ads that either did or did not show comments. Within each condition, adolescents were randomized to view 4 images that had high (>10,000), medium (1000-10,000), or low (<100) numbers of “likes.” Adolescents reported ad preferences and willingness to engage with the brand. Results Adolescents rated ads with medium or high numbers of “likes” higher than ads with few “likes” (P=.001 and P=.002, respectively). Heavy social media users (>3 hours/day) were 6.366 times more willing to comment on ads compared to light users (P<.001). Conclusions Adolescents interact with brands in ways that mimic interactions with friends on social media, which is concerning when brands promote unhealthy products. Adolescents also preferred ads with many “likes,” demonstrating the power of social norms in shaping behavior. As proposed in 2019, the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act should expand online advertising restrictions to include adolescents aged 12 to 16 years.

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Community building and knowledge sharing by individuals with disabilities using social media

Cited by 62 publications

References 41 publications

The Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours of Persons with Disabilities

The Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours of Persons with Disabilities

Retweeting Covid-19 disability issues: Risks, support and outrage

Understanding the Extent of Adolescents’ Willingness to Engage With Food and Beverage Companies’ Instagram Accounts: Experimental Survey Study

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