According to a recent report from eHealth Initiative (eHI), social media has the potential to reduce chronic disease and correct high-risk behavior. The report examines the impact of social media and role of online communities in enhancing health education and behavior change efforts to promote wellness, healthy eating, and active living to prevent chronic disease.
Recent studies have shown the burden of chronic disease on the healthcare system is staggering with more than 133 million Americans with one or more chronic conditions accounting for 75 percent of all healthcare spending. With most of chronic diseases being preventable through behavioral and lifestyle modifications, social media can serve as an invaluable form of communication.
Over the past few years millions of consumers are turning to social media to connect with other patients, caregivers, and medical professionals through social media platforms such as message boards, blogs, microblogs, or social networking sites to discuss how to cope with the demands of a chronic disease, share strategies to achieve a healthier lifestyle, or share their experience with a condition or treatment (SacBee,1/30/14).
Key Challenges/Barriers
Despite social media’s huge opportunity, the report identifies key challenges that must be addressed if social media is going to evolve into a key form of health communication in the U.S., including:
- Digital divide among elderly and minority populations;
- Balancing transparency and anonymity;
- Concerns about privacy and HIPAA compliance;
- Quality, validity, and authenticity of information online.
Best Practices/Strategies for Promoting Health and Wellness through Social Media
In order to successfully leverage social media to combat chronic disease, the following successful best practices and strategies should be considered:
- Develop multiple synchronous and asynchronous functionalities to allow flexible 24/7 communication among users.
- Include online roles for trained health providers and caregivers to mitigate concerns about misinformation without breaking users’ trust.
- Provide dynamic privacy controls and use requirements that encourage users to share as much or as little information as they prefer.
- Incorporate user-centered design to ensure not only that the platform is developed appropriately for the intended user audience with relevant features.
Background
The report is the result of a qualitative research project which was informed by a literature review and environmental scan of the field, including case studies and informant interviews with key organizations and experts. Support for this report was provided by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF).
Click here to read the full report.
Featured image credit: Jason A. Howie via cc
