“Friending” Teens: Systematic Review of Social Media in Adolescent and Young Adult Health Care

Abstract

BackgroundSocial media has emerged as a potentially powerful medium for communication with adolescents and young adults around their health choices.ObjectiveThe goal of this systematic review is to identify research on the use of social media for interacting with adolescents and young adults in order to achieve positive health outcomes.MethodsA MEDLINE/PubMed electronic database search was performed between January 1, 2002 and October 1, 2013, using terms to identify peer-reviewed research in which social media and other Web 2.0 technologies were an important feature. We used a systematic approach to retrieve papers and extract relevant data.ResultsWe identified 288 studies involving social media, of which 87 met criteria for inclusion; 75 studies were purely observational and 12 were interventional. The ways in which social media was leveraged by these studies included (1) observing adolescent and young adult behavior (n=77), (2) providing health information (n=13), (3) engaging the adolescent and young adult community (n=17), and (4) recruiting research participants (n=23). Common health topics addressed included high-risk sexual behaviors (n=23), alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (n=19), Internet safety (n=8), mental health issues (n=18), medical conditions (n=11), or other specified issues (n=12). Several studies used more than one social media platform and addressed more than one health-related topic.ConclusionsSocial media technologies offer an exciting new means for engaging and communicating with adolescents and young adults; it has been successfully used to engage this age group, identify behaviors, and provide appropriate intervention and education. Nevertheless, the majority of studies to date have been preliminary and limited in their methodologies, and mostly center around evaluating how adolescents and young adults use social media and the resulting implications on their health. Although these explorations are essential, further exploration and development of these strategies into building effective interventions is necessary.

Protagonismo de adolescentes na prevenção de doenças sexualmente transmissíveis

“…Space of educational intervention for STD/HIV/AIDS prevention as planned and prepared by adolescents of intervention. (8,9) This fact enabled us to understand the need for a different look to the experience of sexuality at this stage, which allowed the adolescents themselves propose strategies to bring and define subjects difficult to approach or with greater resistance to healthy behaviors.…”

“…(16) References that may identify the adolescents' sexual life, such as naming the educational intervention with titles associated with sexuality, can generate feelings of rejection and resistance to participate in the educational moment. (9) Working with the protagonism of adolescents contributes to affirmation of their emancipatory ideas, starting from respect to the other and different ways of exerting their sexuality, and facilitating discussion through questions, opinions, and values of adolescents. Therefore, it may contribute to an expansion of their own self-protection capabilities.…”

Proposing an Ecosystem of Digital Health Solutions for Teens With Chronic Conditions Transitioning to Self-Management and Independence: Exploratory Qualitative Study (Preprint)

“…However, use of social media was found to be effective in creating a communication network, but not without several limitations and privacy concerns [16].…”

Social Media in the Sexual Lives of African American and Latino Youth: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Neighborhood

“…Only three of the eleven studies reviewed utilized social media in the interventions while the rest focused on text messaging. Yonker, Zan, Scirica, Jethwani and Kinane, (2014) also conducted a comprehensive review of social media interventions to improve adolescent health (Yonker et al, 2014). Three interventions included significant minority populations (above 50%) and three evidenced short-term increases in sexual risk-reduction behaviors including seeking information about STI testing and increased condom use (Bull, Levine, Black, Schmiege, & Santelli, 2012;Moreno, VanderStoep, et al, 2009;Young et al, 2014).…”