Background
Social 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.
Objective
The 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.
Methods
This 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.
Results
The 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.
Conclusions
Using 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.
Full article at: http://goo.gl/7OaH7N
By:
1 Mary Elisabeth Grewe, MPH,2,3 Donaldson F Conserve, PhD, MPH,1 Catherine Gliwa, BA,2,3and Malika Roman Isler, PhD, MPH3,4
1Department of Health Behavior, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (http://sph.unc.edu/hb/health-behavior-home/), Chapel Hill, NC, United States
2Institute for Global Health and Infectious
Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United
States
3Department of Social Medicine, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
4North Carolina Translational and Clinical
Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
NC, United States
Tamara Taggart, Department of Health
Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Drive 302
Rosenau Hall, CB Number 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7440, United States,
Phone: 1 919 966 5771, Fax: 1 919 966 2921, Email: ude.cnu.liame@traggatt.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv
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