Adapting behavioral interventions for social media delivery
Open accessAbstract
Patients are increasingly using online social networks (ie, social media) to connect with other patients and health care professionals--a trend called peer-to-peer health care. Because online social networks provide a means for health care professionals to communicate with patients, and for patients to communicate with each other, an opportunity exists to use social media as a modality to deliver behavioral interventions. Social media-delivered behavioral interventions have the potential to reduce the expense of behavioral interventions by eliminating visits, as well as increase our access to patients by becoming embedded in their social media feeds. Trials of online social network-delivered behavioral interventions have shown promise, but much is unknown about intervention development and methodology. In this paper, we discuss the process by which investigators can translate behavioral interventions for social media delivery. We present a model that describes the steps and decision points in this process, including the necessary training and reporting requirements. We also discuss issues pertinent to social media-delivered interventions, including cost, scalability, and privacy. Finally, we identify areas of research that are needed to optimize this emerging behavioral intervention modality.
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- Authors
- Pagoto, S., Waring, M. E., May, C. N., Ding, E. Y., Kunz, W. H., Hayes, R., & Oleski, J. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
- University of Massachusetts Boston (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pagoto, Sherry
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2016-01-29
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e24
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4752690
- OpenAlex
- W2268106860
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 21.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network (American Medical Association) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001453, KL2TR000160)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K24HL124366)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM107000)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- social media, behavioral interventions, social networking sites, intervention adaptation, intervention development, scalability, cost, privacy, patient engagement
- MeSH terms
- Health Promotion, Humans, Social Support, Health Behavior, Information Seeking Behavior, Social Media
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