scholarly journals Public Health in the Information Age: Recognizing the Infosphere as a Social Determinant of Health

10.2196/19311 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. e19311
Author(s):  
Jessica Morley ◽  
Josh Cowls ◽  
Mariarosaria Taddeo ◽  
Luciano Floridi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
State Control ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Since 2016, social media companies and news providers have come under pressure to tackle the spread of political mis- and disinformation (MDI) online. However, despite evidence that online health MDI (on the web, on social media, and within mobile apps) also has negative real-world effects, there has been a lack of comparable action by either online service providers or state-sponsored public health bodies. We argue that this is problematic and seek to answer three questions: why has so little been done to control the flow of, and exposure to, health MDI online; how might more robust action be justified; and what specific, newly justified actions are needed to curb the flow of, and exposure to, online health MDI? In answering these questions, we show that four ethical concerns—related to paternalism, autonomy, freedom of speech, and pluralism—are partly responsible for the lack of intervention. We then suggest that these concerns can be overcome by relying on four arguments: (1) education is necessary but insufficient to curb the circulation of health MDI, (2) there is precedent for state control of internet content in other domains, (3) network dynamics adversely affect the spread of accurate health information, and (4) justice is best served by protecting those susceptible to inaccurate health information. These arguments provide a strong case for classifying the quality of the infosphere as a social determinant of health, thus making its protection a public health responsibility. In addition, they offer a strong justification for working to overcome the ethical concerns associated with state-led intervention in the infosphere to protect public health.

scholarly journals Public Health in the Information Age: Recognizing the Infosphere as a Social Determinant of Health (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Morley ◽  
Josh Cowls ◽  
Mariarosaria Taddeo ◽  
Luciano Floridi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
State Control ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

UNSTRUCTURED Since 2016, social media companies and news providers have come under pressure to tackle the spread of political mis- and disinformation (MDI) online. However, despite evidence that online health MDI (on the web, on social media, and within mobile apps) also has negative real-world effects, there has been a lack of comparable action by either online service providers or state-sponsored public health bodies. We argue that this is problematic and seek to answer three questions: why has so little been done to control the flow of, and exposure to, health MDI online; how might more robust action be justified; and what specific, newly justified actions are needed to curb the flow of, and exposure to, online health MDI? In answering these questions, we show that four ethical concerns—related to paternalism, autonomy, freedom of speech, and pluralism—are partly responsible for the lack of intervention. We then suggest that these concerns can be overcome by relying on four arguments: (1) education is necessary but insufficient to curb the circulation of health MDI, (2) there is precedent for state control of internet content in other domains, (3) network dynamics adversely affect the spread of accurate health information, and (4) justice is best served by protecting those susceptible to inaccurate health information. These arguments provide a strong case for classifying the quality of the infosphere as a social determinant of health, thus making its protection a public health responsibility. In addition, they offer a strong justification for working to overcome the ethical concerns associated with state-led intervention in the infosphere to protect public health.

scholarly journals Conceptual causal models of socioeconomic status, family structure, family functioning and their role in public health

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Booysen ◽  
Ferdi Botha ◽  
Edwin Wouters
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Family Functioning ◽  
Family Structure ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Causal Models ◽  
Family Socioeconomic Status ◽  
The Family ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

AbstractSocial determinants of health frameworks are standard tools in public health. These frameworks for the most part omit a crucial factor: the family. Socioeconomic status moreover is a prominent social determinant of health. Insofar as family functioning is poorer in poor families and family structure and functioning are linked to health, it is critical to consider the pathways between these four constructs. In this correspondence, we reflect on how empirical studies of this conceptual nexus mirror two causal models. We conclude by reflecting on future directions for research in this field.

scholarly journals Health Information Seeking Behaviors on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among American Social Networking Site Users: Survey Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Neely ◽  
Christina Eldredge ◽  
Ron Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Health Consumers

BACKGROUND In recent years, medical journals have emphasized the increasingly critical role that social media plays in the dissemination of public health information and disease prevention guidelines. However, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter continue to pose unique challenges for clinical health care providers and public health officials alike. In order to effectively communicate during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly critical for health care providers and public health officials to understand how patients gather health-related information on the internet and adjudicate the merits of such information. OBJECTIVE With that goal in mind, we conducted a survey of 1003 US-based adults to better understand how health consumers have used social media to learn and stay informed about the COVID-19 pandemic, the extent to which they have relied on credible scientific information sources, and how they have gone about fact-checking pandemic-related information. METHODS A web-based survey was conducted with a sample that was purchased through an industry-leading market research provider. The results were reported with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 3. Participants included 1003 US-based adults (aged ≥18 years). Participants were selected via a stratified quota sampling approach to ensure that the sample was representative of the US population. Balanced quotas were determined (by region of the country) for gender, age, race, and ethnicity. RESULTS The results showed a heavy reliance on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic; more than three-quarters of respondents (762/1003, 76%) reported that they have relied on social media at least “a little,” and 59.2% (594/1003) of respondents indicated that they read information about COVID-19 on social media at least once per week. According to the findings, most social media users (638/1003, 63.6%) were unlikely to fact-check what they see on the internet with a health professional, despite the high levels of mistrust in the accuracy of COVID-19–related information on social media. We also found a greater likelihood of undergoing vaccination among those following more credible scientific sources on social media during the pandemic (<i>χ</i><sup>2</sup><sub>16</sub>=50.790; <i>φ</i>=0.258; <i>P</i><.001). CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that health professionals will need to be both strategic and proactive when engaging with health consumers on social media if they hope to counteract the deleterious effects of misinformation and disinformation. Effective training, institutional support, and proactive collaboration can help health professionals adapt to the evolving patterns of health information seeking.

Challenges to Transforming Unconventional Social Media Data into Actionable Knowledge for Public Health Systems During Disasters

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Chan ◽  
Hemant Purohit
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACTEvery year, there are larger and more severe disasters and health organizations are struggling to respond with services to keep public health systems running. Making decisions with limited health information can negatively affect response activities and impact morbidity and mortality. An overarching challenge is getting the right health information to the right health service personnel at the right time. As responding agencies engage in social media (eg, Twitter, Facebook) to communicate with the public, new opportunities emerge to leverage this non-traditional information for improved situational awareness. Transforming these big data is dependent on computers to process and filter content for health information categories relevant to health responders. To enable a more health-focused approach to social media analysis during disasters, 2 major research challenges should be addressed: (1) advancing methodologies to extract relevant information for health services and creating dynamic knowledge bases that address both the global and US disaster contexts, and (2) expanding social media research for disaster informatics to focus on health response activities. There is a lack of attention on health-focused social media research beyond epidemiologic surveillance. Future research will require approaches that address challenges of domain-aware, including multilingual language understanding in artificial intelligence for disaster health information extraction. New research will need to focus on the primary goal of health providers, whose priority is to get the right health information to the right medical and public health service personnel at the right time.

Social Media as a Tool for Consumer Engagement in Hospital Quality Improvement and Service Design: Barriers and Enablers for Implementation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Walsh ◽  
Nerida Hyett ◽  
Jayne Howley ◽  
Nicole Juniper ◽  
Chi Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Hospital Service ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Barriers And Enablers ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Background: Social media can be used to engage consumers in hospital service design and quality improvement (QI) activities, however its uptake may be limited by a lack of guidance to support implementation. This article presents the perceived barriers and enablers in using social media for consumer engagement derived from an interview study with public hospital stakeholders. Method: Semi-structured interviews with 26 Australian hospital service providers and consumer representatives. Data were analysed using a deductive content analysis method. Results: Data were collected between October 2019 and April 2020. Facebook was the platform most commonly used for consumer engagement activities. Barriers and enablers to social media-based consumer engagement were identified. The barrier themes were 1) fears and concerns; 2) lack of skills and resources for social media engagement; 3) lack of organisational processes and support; and 4) problems with social media platforms and the changing social media landscape. The enabler themes were: 1) hospitals facilitating access and use; 2) making discussions safe; 3) cultivating a social media community; and 4) building on success. Conclusion: Using social media to facilitate consumer engagement in hospital service design and QI activities is feasible and acceptable to service providers and consumers. Hospitals and their executives can create a supportive environment for social media-based engagement activities through developing clear governance systems and providing training and support to all users. Consumers need to be involved in co-designing social media-based activities and determining which forms of engagement are accessible and acceptable. For some consumers and service providers, barriers such as a lack of resources and distrust of social media companies might mean that social media-based engagement will be less acceptable for them. Because of this it is important that hospitals provide complementary methods of engagement (e.g., face-to-face) alongside social media-based methods.

Borderline: The Ethics of Fat Stigma in Public Health

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cat Pausé
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
Health Seeking Behaviors ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Public Health Campaigns ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health ◽  
Fat Stigma

This article argues that public health campaigns have an ethical obligation to combat fat stigma, not mobilize it in the “war on obesity.” Fat stigma is conceptualized, and a review is undertaken of how pervasive fat stigma is across the world and across the lifespan. By reviewing the negative impacts of fat stigma on physical health, mental health, and health seeking behaviors, fat stigma is clearly identified as a social determinant of health. Considering the role of fat stigma in public health, and the arguments made for using stigmatisation in public health campaigns to promote population health, it is concluded that it is a violation of public health ethics to use stigma as a tool in combatting fatness. The article concludes by making recommendations of how public health in New Zealand can combat, rather than reinforce, fat stigma.

scholarly journals Young People’s Experiences and Perceptions of YouTuber-Produced Health Content: Implications for Health Promotion

2020 ◽  
pp. 109019812097496
Author(s):  
Jane Harris ◽  
Amanda Atkinson ◽  
Michael Mink ◽  
Lorna Porcellato
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
North West ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Sources Of Health Information ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
Health Content

The growing diversity and uptake of social media has increased the sources of health information available to young people. YouTube is one of the most popular social media platforms for young people in the United Kingdom, and YouTubers are the most important influencers on the platform producing diverse health content. They are increasingly recognized by popular media and public health organizations as a potentially influential source of health information for young people. This study aimed to qualitatively explore young people’s experiences and perceptions of YouTuber health content. Focus groups (November 2017 to January 2018) with 85 young people (13–18 years) were recruited from schools in a single county in North West England. The findings suggest young people’s engagement with YouTuber health content is dependent on how they encounter it, YouTubers’ motivations for producing it, and the perceived relatability, sincerity, and generalization present in this content. The study confirms YouTuber health content was one of the many sources of health information used by young people and was most frequently encountered during young people’s routine viewing. Collaboration between public health organizations and YouTubers could be promising in communicating health messages to young people already engaged with these YouTubers, as part of wider campaigns or interventions. These messages could be particularly effective if they focused on experiences and norms rather than advice, remained consistent with YouTubers’ existing health content, incorporate clear indicators of accuracy into their narrative, and state their intention to benefit young people.

Employment as a Social Determinant of Health: A Review of Longitudinal Studies Exploring the Relationship Between Employment Status and Mental Health

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Hergenrather ◽  
Robert J. Zeglin ◽  
Maureen McGuire-Kuletz ◽  
Scott D. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Longitudinal Studies ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Job Loss ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Purpose: To explore employment as a social determinant of health through examining the relationship between employment status and mental health.Method: The authors conducted a systematic review of 48 longitudinal studies conducted in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States to explore the causal relationship between employment status and mental health.Results: Five common trajectories were identified as employment, unemployment, job loss, reemployment, and retired. Employment and reemployment were associated with better mental health (e.g., lower psychological distress, lower depression, lower anxiety), whereas unemployment and job loss were correlated with poorer mental health (e.g., higher depression, higher psychological distress).Conclusion: To enhance employment outcomes, service providers must acknowledge the relationship between employment status and mental health. The trajectories of employment and reemployment should be further explored by category (e.g., temporary, adequacy, income, skill level, hours, status). Additional research is needed to further elucidate the relationship between employment status and mental health.

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