scholarly journals Role of Moderators on Engagement of Adolescents With Depression or Anxiety in a Social Media Intervention: Content Analysis of Web-Based Interactions

10.2196/13467 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. e13467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Windler ◽  
Maeve Clair ◽  
Cassandra Long ◽  
Leah Boyle ◽  
Ana Radovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Beliefs ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Peer Social Support ◽  
Media Intervention ◽  
Intervention Content ◽  
Blog Posts

Background The Supporting Our Valued Adolescents (SOVA) intervention aims to use a moderated social media website to encourage peer discussion about negative health beliefs, which may prevent treatment uptake. Web moderators with a background in behavioral health are used to facilitate peer conversation to promote a sense of community, provide social support, and ensure safety. Objective Although moderation is a core component of this intervention, little is known on best practices for moderators to ensure safety while encouraging engagement. This study sought to describe interactions between moderators and peer users and understand moderator experiences through individual interviews. Methods Adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 26 years with depression or anxiety history were recruited for a usability study of the SOVA intervention. During this study, 14 moderators were trained to regularly review comments to blog posts for safety, facilitate conversation, and correct misinformation. A total of 110 blog posts and their associated comments were extracted and coded using a codebook based on items from the supportive accountability model and a peer social support analysis. Closing interviews with 12 moderators assessing their experience of moderating were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Blog post text and comments as well as transcripts of moderator interviews were assessed using a thematic analysis approach, and blog posts were examined for trends in content of moderator comments comparing blog posts with differences in comment contributor order. Results There were no safety concerns during the study, and moderators only intervened to remove identifiable information. Web moderators exhibited elements of supportive accountability (such as being perceived as experts and using verbal rewards as well as offering informational and emotional support). When the moderators provided the last comment under a blog post, thereby potentially ending contribution by users, they were at times found to be commenting about their own experiences. Moderators interviewed after completing their role expressed challenges in engaging users. A cohort of moderators who received more extensive training on supportive accountability and peer social support felt their ability to engage users improved because of the training. Conclusions Moderators of a Web-based support site for adolescents with depression or anxiety were able to ensure safety while promoting user engagement. Moderators can elicit user engagement by offering gratitude and encouragement to users, asking users follow-up questions, and limiting their own opinions and experiences when responding to comments.

scholarly journals Role of Moderators on Engagement of Adolescents With Depression or Anxiety in a Social Media Intervention: Content Analysis of Web-Based Interactions (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Windler ◽  
Maeve Clair ◽  
Cassandra Long ◽  
Leah Boyle ◽  
Ana Radovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Beliefs ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Peer Social Support ◽  
Media Intervention ◽  
Intervention Content ◽  
Blog Posts

BACKGROUND The Supporting Our Valued Adolescents (SOVA) intervention aims to use a moderated social media website to encourage peer discussion about negative health beliefs, which may prevent treatment uptake. Web moderators with a background in behavioral health are used to facilitate peer conversation to promote a sense of community, provide social support, and ensure safety. OBJECTIVE Although moderation is a core component of this intervention, little is known on best practices for moderators to ensure safety while encouraging engagement. This study sought to describe interactions between moderators and peer users and understand moderator experiences through individual interviews. METHODS Adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 26 years with depression or anxiety history were recruited for a usability study of the SOVA intervention. During this study, 14 moderators were trained to regularly review comments to blog posts for safety, facilitate conversation, and correct misinformation. A total of 110 blog posts and their associated comments were extracted and coded using a codebook based on items from the supportive accountability model and a peer social support analysis. Closing interviews with 12 moderators assessing their experience of moderating were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Blog post text and comments as well as transcripts of moderator interviews were assessed using a thematic analysis approach, and blog posts were examined for trends in content of moderator comments comparing blog posts with differences in comment contributor order. RESULTS There were no safety concerns during the study, and moderators only intervened to remove identifiable information. Web moderators exhibited elements of supportive accountability (such as being perceived as experts and using verbal rewards as well as offering informational and emotional support). When the moderators provided the last comment under a blog post, thereby potentially ending contribution by users, they were at times found to be commenting about their own experiences. Moderators interviewed after completing their role expressed challenges in engaging users. A cohort of moderators who received more extensive training on supportive accountability and peer social support felt their ability to engage users improved because of the training. CONCLUSIONS Moderators of a Web-based support site for adolescents with depression or anxiety were able to ensure safety while promoting user engagement. Moderators can elicit user engagement by offering gratitude and encouragement to users, asking users follow-up questions, and limiting their own opinions and experiences when responding to comments.

scholarly journals The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD Platform as an Online Informational and Social Support Tool for People Living With Memory Problems and Their Carers: An Evaluation of User Engagement, Usability and Usefulness

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 1303-1312
Author(s):  
David Howe ◽  
Jonathan Thorpe ◽  
Rosie Dunn ◽  
Caroline White ◽  
Kate Cunnah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Memory Problems ◽  
Peer Social Support ◽  
User Groups ◽  
With Memory

People living with dementia or cognitive impairment (PwD) and their carers often have unmet needs for informational and social support postdiagnosis. Web-based platforms have the potential to address these needs, although few have been developed for use by both PwD and carers. The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD platform was developed to provide both user groups with informational and peer-to-peer social support. Platform logging data were analyzed to assess the extent to which PwD ( n = 37) and carers ( n = 37) engaged with the platform and its social/informational features in their daily lives. Participants also provided feedback on the usefulness and usability of the platform. The majority of PwD and carers found the platform and its social/informational features useful and usable, and significant subsets of both groups utilized the platform regularly. However, carers engaged with the informational and social features to a greater extent than PwD, and users highlighted that PwD typically required regular support to use the platform.

scholarly journals Social Network Analysis of the Effects of a Social Media–Based Weight Loss Intervention Targeting Adults of Low Socioeconomic Status: Single-Arm Intervention Trial

10.2196/24690 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. e24690
Author(s):  
Ran Xu ◽  
David Cavallo
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Weight Loss ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Using Data

Background Obesity is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease risk factors, including hypertension and type II diabetes. Although numerous weight loss interventions have demonstrated efficacy, there is considerably less evidence about the theoretical mechanisms through which they work. Delivering lifestyle behavior change interventions via social media provides unique opportunities for understanding mechanisms of intervention effects. Server data collected directly from web-based platforms can provide detailed, real-time behavioral information over the course of intervention programs that can be used to understand how interventions work. Objective The objective of this study was to demonstrate how social network analysis can facilitate our understanding of the mechanisms underlying a social media–based weight loss intervention. Methods We performed secondary analysis by using data from a pilot study that delivered a dietary and physical activity intervention to a group of participants via Facebook. We mapped out participants’ interaction networks over the 12-week intervention period and linked participants’ network characteristics (eg, in-degree, out-degree, network constraint) to participants’ changes in theoretical mediators (ie, dietary knowledge, perceived social support, self-efficacy) and weight loss by using regression analysis. We also performed mediation analyses to explore how the effects of social network measures on weight loss could be mediated by the aforementioned theoretical mediators. Results In this analysis, 47 participants from 2 waves completed the study and were included. We found that increases in the number of posts, comments, and reactions significantly predicted weight loss (β=–.94, P=.04); receiving comments positively predicted changes in self-efficacy (β=7.81, P=.009), and the degree to which one’s network neighbors are tightly connected with each other weakly predicted changes in perceived social support (β=7.70, P=.08). In addition, change in self-efficacy mediated the relationship between receiving comments and weight loss (β=–.89, P=.02). Conclusions Our analyses using data from this pilot study linked participants’ network characteristics with changes in several important study outcomes of interest such as self-efficacy, social support, and weight. Our results point to the potential of using social network analysis to understand the social processes and mechanisms through which web-based behavioral interventions affect participants’ psychological and behavioral outcomes. Future studies are warranted to validate our results and to further explore the relationship between network dynamics and study outcomes in similar and larger trials.

scholarly journals Web-based Social Media Intervention to Increase Vaccine Acceptance: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
pp. e20171117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Glanz ◽  
Nicole M. Wagner ◽  
Komal J. Narwaney ◽  
Courtney R. Kraus ◽  
Jo Ann Shoup ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Media Intervention

scholarly journals Implications and Preventions of Cyberbullying and Social Exclusion in Social Media: Systematic Review

10.2196/30286 ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e30286
Author(s):  
Adesoji Ademiluyi ◽  
Chuqin Li ◽  
Albert Park
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Formal Classification

Background The growth of social networking has created a paradigm in which many forms of personal communication are being replaced by internet communication technologies, such as social media. This has led to social issues, such as cyberbullying. In response, researchers are investigating cyberbullying to determine its implications in various life sectors. Objective This manuscript reviews the methods, results, and limitations of the current cyberbullying research and discusses the physical and mental repercussions of cyberbullying and social exclusion as well as methods of predicting and counteracting these events. On the basis of the findings, we discuss future research directions. Methods Using ScienceDirect, ACM Digital Library, and PubMed, 34 research articles were used in this review. A review was conducted using the selected articles with the goal of understanding the current landscape of cyberbullying research. Results Studies have analyzed correlations between depressive and suicidal ideations in subjects as well as relationships in the social, educational, and financial status of the perpetrators. Studies have explored detection methods for monitoring cyberbullying. Automated detection has yet to become effective and accurate; however, several factors, such as personal background and physical appearance, have been identified to correlate with the likelihood that a person becomes a survivor or perpetrator of web-based cybervictimization. Social support is currently common in recovery efforts but may require diversification for specific applications in web-based incidents. Conclusions Relations between social status, age, gender, and behaviors have been discovered that offer new insights into the origins and likeliness of cyberbullying events. Rehabilitation from such events is possible; however, automatic detection is not yet a viable solution for prevention of cyberbullying incidents. Effects such as social exclusion and suicidal ideations are closely tied to incidents of cyberbullying and require further study across various social and demographical populations. New studies should be conducted to explore the experiences of survivors and perpetrators and identify causal links. The breadth of research includes demographics from China, Canada, Taiwan, Iran, the United States, and Namibia. Wider ranges of national populations should be considered in future studies for accurate assessments, given global internet communication technology activity. The studies emphasize the need for formal classification terminology. With formal classification, researchers will have a more definite scope, allowing specific research on a single definable topic rather than on general bullying events and symptoms. Of all the studies, 2 used a longitudinal design for their research methodology. The low number of longitudinal studies leaves gaps between causation and correlation, and further research is required to understand the effects of cyberbullying. Research addressing ongoing victimization is required for the various forms of cyberbullying; social support offers the most effective current standard for prevention.

scholarly journals Implications and Preventions of Cyberbullying and Social Exclusion in Social Media: Systematic Review (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adesoji Ademiluyi ◽  
Chuqin Li ◽  
Albert Park
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Formal Classification

BACKGROUND The growth of social networking has created a paradigm in which many forms of personal communication are being replaced by internet communication technologies, such as social media. This has led to social issues, such as cyberbullying. In response, researchers are investigating cyberbullying to determine its implications in various life sectors. OBJECTIVE This manuscript reviews the methods, results, and limitations of the current cyberbullying research and discusses the physical and mental repercussions of cyberbullying and social exclusion as well as methods of predicting and counteracting these events. On the basis of the findings, we discuss future research directions. METHODS Using ScienceDirect, ACM Digital Library, and PubMed, 34 research articles were used in this review. A review was conducted using the selected articles with the goal of understanding the current landscape of cyberbullying research. RESULTS Studies have analyzed correlations between depressive and suicidal ideations in subjects as well as relationships in the social, educational, and financial status of the perpetrators. Studies have explored detection methods for monitoring cyberbullying. Automated detection has yet to become effective and accurate; however, several factors, such as personal background and physical appearance, have been identified to correlate with the likelihood that a person becomes a survivor or perpetrator of web-based cybervictimization. Social support is currently common in recovery efforts but may require diversification for specific applications in web-based incidents. CONCLUSIONS Relations between social status, age, gender, and behaviors have been discovered that offer new insights into the origins and likeliness of cyberbullying events. Rehabilitation from such events is possible; however, automatic detection is not yet a viable solution for prevention of cyberbullying incidents. Effects such as social exclusion and suicidal ideations are closely tied to incidents of cyberbullying and require further study across various social and demographical populations. New studies should be conducted to explore the experiences of survivors and perpetrators and identify causal links. The breadth of research includes demographics from China, Canada, Taiwan, Iran, the United States, and Namibia. Wider ranges of national populations should be considered in future studies for accurate assessments, given global internet communication technology activity. The studies emphasize the need for formal classification terminology. With formal classification, researchers will have a more definite scope, allowing specific research on a single definable topic rather than on general bullying events and symptoms. Of all the studies, 2 used a longitudinal design for their research methodology. The low number of longitudinal studies leaves gaps between causation and correlation, and further research is required to understand the effects of cyberbullying. Research addressing ongoing victimization is required for the various forms of cyberbullying; social support offers the most effective current standard for prevention.

scholarly journals Social Media Interventions for Risky Drinking Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

10.2196/16688 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. e16688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E Bonar ◽  
Diane M Schneeberger ◽  
Carrie Bourque ◽  
Jose A Bauermeister ◽  
Sean D Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorders ◽  
Placebo Control ◽  
Risky Drinking ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Media Intervention

Background Despite intervention efforts to date, the prevalence of risky drinking among adolescents and emerging adults remains high, increasing the risk for health consequences and the development of alcohol use disorders. Peer influences are particularly salient among this age group, including via social media. Thus, the development of efficacious early interventions for youth, delivered with a broad reach via trained peers on social media, could have an important role in addressing risky drinking and concomitant drug use. Objective This paper describes the protocol of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of a social media intervention among adolescents and emerging adults who meet the criteria for risky drinking (using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption [AUDIT-C]), delivered with and without financial incentives for participation, compared with an attention placebo control condition (ie, entertaining social media content), on alcohol consumption and consequences. Methods This RCT involved recruiting 955 youths (aged 16-24 years) via advertisements on Facebook and Instagram to self-administer a brief web-based screening survey. Those screening positive for past 3-month risky drinking (AUDIT-C positive: ages 16-17 years: ≥3 females and ≥4 males; and ages 18-24 years: ≥4 females and ≥5 males) were eligible for the RCT. After providing consent (a waiver of parental consent was obtained for minors), participants completed a web-based baseline survey and several verification procedures, including a selfie photo matched to Facebook profile photos. Participants were then randomized to join invitation-only secret Facebook groups, which were not searchable or viewable by parents, friends, or anyone not recruited by the study. The 3 conditions were social media intervention with incentives, social media intervention without incentives (SMI), and attention placebo control. Each condition lasted 8 weeks and consisted of bachelor’s-level and master’s-level therapist electronic coaches posting relevant content and responding to participants’ posts in a manner consistent with Motivational Interviewing. Participants in the control condition and SMI condition did not receive payments but were blind to condition assignment between these 2 conditions. Follow-ups are ongoing and occur at 3, 6, and 12 months poststart of the groups. Results We enrolled 955 participants over 10 waves of recruitment who screened positive for risky drinking into the RCT. Conclusions The findings of this study will provide the critical next step in delivering early alcohol interventions to the youth, capitalizing on social media platforms, which could have significant public health impact by altering alcohol use trajectories of adolescents and emerging adults engaged in risky drinking. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02809586; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02809586. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/16688

scholarly journals Social Media Interventions for Risky Drinking Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E Bonar ◽  
Diane M Schneeberger ◽  
Carrie Bourque ◽  
Jose A Bauermeister ◽  
Sean D Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorders ◽  
Placebo Control ◽  
Risky Drinking ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Media Intervention

BACKGROUND Despite intervention efforts to date, the prevalence of risky drinking among adolescents and emerging adults remains high, increasing the risk for health consequences and the development of alcohol use disorders. Peer influences are particularly salient among this age group, including via social media. Thus, the development of efficacious early interventions for youth, delivered with a broad reach via trained peers on social media, could have an important role in addressing risky drinking and concomitant drug use. OBJECTIVE This paper describes the protocol of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of a social media intervention among adolescents and emerging adults who meet the criteria for risky drinking (using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption [AUDIT-C]), delivered with and without financial incentives for participation, compared with an attention placebo control condition (ie, entertaining social media content), on alcohol consumption and consequences. METHODS This RCT involved recruiting 955 youths (aged 16-24 years) via advertisements on Facebook and Instagram to self-administer a brief web-based screening survey. Those screening positive for past 3-month risky drinking (AUDIT-C positive: ages 16-17 years: ≥3 females and ≥4 males; and ages 18-24 years: ≥4 females and ≥5 males) were eligible for the RCT. After providing consent (a waiver of parental consent was obtained for minors), participants completed a web-based baseline survey and several verification procedures, including a selfie photo matched to Facebook profile photos. Participants were then randomized to join invitation-only secret Facebook groups, which were not searchable or viewable by parents, friends, or anyone not recruited by the study. The 3 conditions were social media intervention with incentives, social media intervention without incentives (SMI), and attention placebo control. Each condition lasted 8 weeks and consisted of bachelor’s-level and master’s-level therapist electronic coaches posting relevant content and responding to participants’ posts in a manner consistent with Motivational Interviewing. Participants in the control condition and SMI condition did not receive payments but were blind to condition assignment between these 2 conditions. Follow-ups are ongoing and occur at 3, 6, and 12 months poststart of the groups. RESULTS We enrolled 955 participants over 10 waves of recruitment who screened positive for risky drinking into the RCT. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study will provide the critical next step in delivering early alcohol interventions to the youth, capitalizing on social media platforms, which could have significant public health impact by altering alcohol use trajectories of adolescents and emerging adults engaged in risky drinking. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02809586; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02809586. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/16688

Cancer Communication and User Engagement on Chinese Social Media: Extracting Topics Using Text Analytics (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Chen ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
Xin Ma
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Cancer Communication ◽  
Public Health Challenges ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Populous Country ◽  
Chinese Social Media

BACKGROUND Cancer ranks among one of the most serious public health challenges worldwide. In China, the world’s most populous country, about a quarter of the population suffers from cancer. Social media have become an important platform for the Chinese public to express opinions. OBJECTIVE Therefore, we investigated cancer-related discussions on the Chinese social media platform Weibo to identify cancer topics with the highest level of user engagement. METHODS We applied topic modeling and regression analysis to analyze and visualize cancer-related messages on Weibo and examine the relationships between different cancer topics and user engagement (i.e., number of retweets, comments, and likes). RESULTS Results revealed that cancer communication on Weibo has generally focused on six topics including social support, cancer treatment, cancer prevention, women’s cancers, smoking and skin cancer, and others. Discussion about social support and cancer treatment topics attracted the highest user engagement and received the greatest numbers of retweets, comments, and likes. CONCLUSIONS Our investigation of cancer-related communication on Weibo provided valuable insights into public concerns about cancer and will help guide the development of health campaigns in response.

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