Social Media and HIV: A Systematic Review of Uses of Social Media in HIV Communication

Abstract

BackgroundSocial media, including mobile technologies and social networking sites, are being used increasingly as part of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment efforts. As an important avenue for communication about HIV, social media use may continue to increase and become more widespread.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive systematic review of the current published literature on the design, users, benefits, and limitations of using social media to communicate about HIV prevention and treatment.MethodsThis review paper used a systematic approach to survey all literature published before February 2014 using 7 electronic databases and a manual search. The inclusion criteria were (1) primary focus on communication/interaction about HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), (2) discusses the use of social media to facilitate communication, (3) communication on the social media platform is between individuals or a group of individuals rather than the use of preset, automated responses from a platform, (4) published before February 19, 2014, and (5) all study designs.ResultsThe search identified 35 original research studies. Thirty studies had low or unclear risk of at least one of the bias items in the methodological quality assessment. Among the 8 social media platform types described, short message service text messaging was most commonly used. Platforms served multiple purposes including disseminating health information, conducting health promotion, sharing experiences, providing social support, and promoting medication adherence. Social media users were diverse in geographic location and race/ethnicity; studies commonly reported users aged 18-40 years and users with lower income. Although most studies did not specify whether use was anonymous, studies reported the importance of anonymity in social media use to communicate about HIV largely due to the stigma associated with HIV. The ability to share and receive information about HIV was the most commonly reported benefit of social media use and the most common challenges were related to technology. Measures of frequency of use, satisfaction, and effects of use varied across studies.ConclusionsUsing social media to bridge communication among a diverse range of users, in various geographic and social contexts, may be leveraged through pre-existing platforms and with attention to the roles of anonymity and confidentiality in communication about HIV prevention and treatment. More robust research is needed to determine the effects of social media use on various health and social outcomes related to HIV.

A generation at risk: a cross-sectional study on HIV/AIDS knowledge, exposure to mass media, and stigmatizing behaviors among young women aged 15–24 years in Ghana

“…The stigma associated with the disease often excludes PLHA from seeking voluntary counseling and testing services, and accessing the highly effective antiviral drugs that exist [7–10,17]. A growing number of studies in the past decade have addressed the issue of HIV/AIDS-related stigma [18–20].…”

Assessment of factors affecting social media use for HIV andAIDS communication among undergraduate students in South-Western Nigeria

“…Since the emergence of social media, there has been burgeoning literature on its use in HIV and AIDS communication (Sanghee and Soojung, 2014;Taggart et al, 2015). Several studies on this regards have been carried out on the usefulness this new media in advancing health campaign.…”

“…Several studies on this regards have been carried out on the usefulness this new media in advancing health campaign. Several studies have been carried out on the use of social media on HIV and AIDS prevention and intervention Taggart et al, 2015). Studies have also been carried out to assess use of social media for health purpose by college students (Sanghee and Soojung, 2014).…”

Detection of Cases of Noncompliance to Drug Treatment in Patient Forum Posts: Topic Model Approach (Preprint)

“…Horvath et al [10] and Taggart et al [11] showed that information sharing and socializing with others were the criteria most often cited when HIV patients describe an ideal online social network. Wang et al [12] modeled the discussions and interests of users of a forum for pregnant women using a topic model and showed that the women were sharing their experiences, fears and concerns about medications.…”

“…In the article by Horvath et al [10] the results of an online survey for HIV patients showed that 52% of the participants were considered non-compliant. The meta-analysis published by Taggart et al [11] identified two studies on HIV populations that demonstrated a link between the use of social media and the improvement of compliance to treatment among users. Moreover, Mao et al [14] showed that breast cancer patients offer practical strategies to deal with drug side effects and provide support to each other.…”