Social media, health care, and social networking

2013 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bobby Prasad
Author(s):  
Sharafat Hussain ◽  
Prof. Mohd. Abdul Azeem

Adoption of social media amongst health care organizations is thriving. Healthcare providers have begun to connect with patients via social media. While some healthcare organizations have taken the initiative, numerous others are attempting to comprehend this new medium of opportunity. These organizations are finding that social networking can be an effective way to monitor brand, connecting with patients, community, and patient education and acquiring new talent. This study is conducted to identify the purpose of using social media, concerns, policy and its implementation and the overall experience of healthcare organizations with social media. To collect first hand data, online questionnaire was sent via LinkedIn to 400 US healthcare organizations and representatives out of which 117 responded and were taken further for analsysis. The results of this study confirm the thriving adoption, increased opportunities and cautious use of social media by healthcare organizations. The potential benefits present outweigh the risk and concerns associated with it. Study concluded that social media presence will continue to grow into the future and the field of healthcare is no exception.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyan Li ◽  
Yuan Xiong ◽  
Hao Fong Sit ◽  
Weiming Tang ◽  
Brian J Hall ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Mobile health (mHeath)–based HIV and sexual health promotion among men who have sex with men (MSM) is feasible in low- and middle-income settings. However, many currently available mHealth tools on the market were developed by the private sector for profit and have limited input from MSM communities. OBJECTIVE A health hackathon is an intensive contest that brings together participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds to develop a proposed solution for a specific health issue within a short period. The purpose of this paper was to describe a hackathon event that aimed to develop an mHealth tool to enhance health care (specifically HIV prevention) utilization among Chinese MSM, summarize characteristics of the final prototypes, and discuss implications for future mHealth intervention development. METHODS The hackathon took place in Guangzhou, China. An open call for hackathon participants was advertised on 3 Chinese social media platforms, including Blued, a popular social networking app among MSM. All applicants completed a Web-based survey and were then scored. The top scoring applicants were grouped into teams based on their skills and content area expertise. Each team was allowed 1 month to prepare for the hackathon. The teams then came together in person with on-site expert mentorship for a 72-hour hackathon contest to develop and present mHealth prototype solutions. The judging panel included experts in psychology, public health, computer science, social media, clinical medicine, and MSM advocacy. The final prototypes were evaluated based on innovation, usability, and feasibility. RESULTS We received 92 applicants, and 38 of them were selected to attend the April 2019 hackathon. A total of 8 teams were formed, including expertise in computer science, user interface design, business or marketing, clinical medicine, and public health. Moreover, 24 participants self-identified as gay, and 3 participants self-identified as bisexual. All teams successfully developed a prototype tool. A total of 4 prototypes were designed as a mini program that could be embedded within a popular Chinese social networking app, and 3 prototypes were designed as stand-alone apps. Common prototype functions included Web-based physician searching based on one’s location (8 prototypes), health education (4 prototypes), Web-based health counseling with providers or lay health volunteers (6 prototypes), appointment scheduling (8 prototypes), and between-user communication (2 prototypes). All prototypes included strategies to ensure privacy protection for MSM users, and some prototypes offered strategies to ensure privacy of physicians. The selected prototypes are undergoing pilot testing. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of using a hackathon to create mHealth intervention tools. This suggests a different pathway to developing mHealth interventions and could be relevant in other settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 266-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Cangelosi ◽  
David Kim ◽  
Ed Ranelli ◽  
Ken Griffin

10.2196/16030 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e16030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyan Li ◽  
Yuan Xiong ◽  
Hao Fong Sit ◽  
Weiming Tang ◽  
Brian J Hall ◽  
...  

Background Mobile health (mHeath)–based HIV and sexual health promotion among men who have sex with men (MSM) is feasible in low- and middle-income settings. However, many currently available mHealth tools on the market were developed by the private sector for profit and have limited input from MSM communities. Objective A health hackathon is an intensive contest that brings together participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds to develop a proposed solution for a specific health issue within a short period. The purpose of this paper was to describe a hackathon event that aimed to develop an mHealth tool to enhance health care (specifically HIV prevention) utilization among Chinese MSM, summarize characteristics of the final prototypes, and discuss implications for future mHealth intervention development. Methods The hackathon took place in Guangzhou, China. An open call for hackathon participants was advertised on 3 Chinese social media platforms, including Blued, a popular social networking app among MSM. All applicants completed a Web-based survey and were then scored. The top scoring applicants were grouped into teams based on their skills and content area expertise. Each team was allowed 1 month to prepare for the hackathon. The teams then came together in person with on-site expert mentorship for a 72-hour hackathon contest to develop and present mHealth prototype solutions. The judging panel included experts in psychology, public health, computer science, social media, clinical medicine, and MSM advocacy. The final prototypes were evaluated based on innovation, usability, and feasibility. Results We received 92 applicants, and 38 of them were selected to attend the April 2019 hackathon. A total of 8 teams were formed, including expertise in computer science, user interface design, business or marketing, clinical medicine, and public health. Moreover, 24 participants self-identified as gay, and 3 participants self-identified as bisexual. All teams successfully developed a prototype tool. A total of 4 prototypes were designed as a mini program that could be embedded within a popular Chinese social networking app, and 3 prototypes were designed as stand-alone apps. Common prototype functions included Web-based physician searching based on one’s location (8 prototypes), health education (4 prototypes), Web-based health counseling with providers or lay health volunteers (6 prototypes), appointment scheduling (8 prototypes), and between-user communication (2 prototypes). All prototypes included strategies to ensure privacy protection for MSM users, and some prototypes offered strategies to ensure privacy of physicians. The selected prototypes are undergoing pilot testing. Conclusions This study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of using a hackathon to create mHealth intervention tools. This suggests a different pathway to developing mHealth interventions and could be relevant in other settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (35) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Atiqur Rahman ◽  
Ashraful Islam

Last few years, SARS-coronavirus 2 is sweeping the globe and millions of people are being infected and died. In this situation, citizens and health-care workers would be put in danger if there is a lack of consciousness, knowledge and preparation during this crisis. At the same time, a vast amount of potentially damaging misinformation is spreading at a faster rate than the virus itself. The most of these false rumours are spread via social media. This paper focuses on the COVID-19 linked huge rumour, stigma and conspiracy theories disseminating on the social media during pandemic in Bangladesh perspective. An internet-based interview and primary data was quantitatively analyzed for survey of this paper. The findings demonstrate that social media plays a crucial role in the diffusion of information about the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, including bewilderment, anxiety and panic. This study also revealed that Bangladeshi youth society has the higher levels of stress especially among those who followed the news of pandemic in social networks compared to the rest of the population. Another noteworthy finding is that social media was particularly helpful in reducing anxiety and alienation by allowing the general people to stay in touch with friends, family and others via audio-visual group chat. Different aspects of social networking sites use are also described.


Author(s):  
Matthew N. O. Sadiku ◽  
Mahamadou Tembely ◽  
Sarhan M. Musa

Social media (or social networking) is a universal phenomenon.  It is the most popular online activity worldwide. It empowers people to share their opinions with others online.It has opened new ways of communication in the hyper-connected world. It has become an integral part of modern society as they provide means of interacting and socializing. This paper briefly introduces beginners to social media.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Qassim Alwan Saeed ◽  
Khairallah Sabhan Abdullah Al-Jubouri

Social media sites have recently gain an essential importance in the contemporary societies، actually، these sites isn't simply a personal or social tool of communication among people، its role had been expanded to become "political"، words such as "Facebook، Twitter and YouTube" are common words in political fields of our modern days since the uprisings of Arab spring، which sometimes called (Facebook revolutions) as a result of the major impact of these sites in broadcasting process of the revolution message over the world by organize and manage the revolution progresses in spite of the governmental ascendance and official prohibition.


Author(s):  
Gabriela Fernandes

Aim: The aim of this survey study was to assess the level of awareness amongst Indian population regarding the COVID-19. Method: A survey was conducted amongst 745 individuals to assess their level of awareness regarding COVID-19 and steps to be taken for its prevention. Result: The results revealed that a considerable percentage of individuals learned about the pandemic through social media and news and were aware of the mode of spread of the virus and also steps to be taken to prevent it from spreading. But considerable percentage of people was also not fully aware regarding the age groups this virus will be affecting. Conclusion: Upon understanding the percentage of people not aware about the age groups this virus will be affecting, keeping in mind good amount of knowledge amongst individuals about maintaining hygiene and social distancing, this survey would help the health care workers to create awareness regarding the effect of this virus on different age groups to help prevent carelessness amongst youth in following the regime.


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