PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Social Media”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2026

Navigating Social Media: Balancing Connectivity With Media Literacy to Combat Misinformation and Protect Mental Well-Being.

BACKGROUND: The pervasive use of social media has created a complex digital ecosystem where high connectivity coexists with significant challenges, including the rapid spread of misinformation, particularly regarding mental health, and documented negative impacts on psychological well-being. Platform architectures designed for engagement maximization have been identified as central factors in both issues. OBJECTIVE: This paper critically analyzes the interconnected relationships between social media use, misinformation dissemination, and mental health impacts, with particular attention to psychiatric misinformation across diagnostic categories (e.g., depression, anxiety, ADHD). A primary objective is to evaluate the potential of advanced critical digital literacy frameworks to serve as protective mechanisms against these dual threats. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines across APA PsycInfo, PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar for literature published between January 2018 and March 2026 (updated from the original 2023 search). The search yielded 2672 records. After removing 624 duplicates, 2048 records underwent title and abstract screening, with 1802 excluded. The remaining 246 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, resulting in 86 studies included in the final qualitative synthesis. Inter-rater reliability was established (Cohen's κ = 0.82). Quality assessment was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist, AXIS, and CASP tools, with findings weighted by methodological quality. A thematic analysis was undertaken to synthesize findings. RESULTS: The analysis reveals that core architectural features of social media platforms, algorithmic curation and engagement-based metrics, simultaneously foster environments ripe for misinformation spread and contribute to psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, and harmful social comparison. Psychiatric misinformation specifically (e.g., inaccurate claims about treatment effectiveness, diagnostic criteria, and medication side effects) represents a growing concern, particularly on image- and video-based platforms. The findings indicate that conventional media literacy approaches focused solely on fact-checking are insufficient. Instead, a critical digital literacy framework encompassing algorithmic awareness, data literacy, and emotional awareness is essential for building user resilience, with evidence from high-quality systematic reviews supporting this approach. CONCLUSIONS: Navigating the complexities of modern social media requires an integrated approach combining "pedagogies of play" for experiential skill development with advocacy for structural change (e.g., algorithmic transparency, well being by design principles). This dual strategy empowers individual users to critically engage with digital content while advocating for ethical platform design, thereby safeguarding both mental well-being and democratic discourse. Implications for educators, mental health professionals (including competencies for addressing patient encounters with psychiatric misinformation), policymakers, and platform designers are discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Effectiveness of Embedded Social Media Content on E-cigarette Attitudes and Behaviors: Results from a Randomized Control Trial.

BACKGROUND: This longitudinal randomized controlled trial examined the effects of anti-vaping social media content on e-cigarette attitudes and intentions among U.S. young adults (ages 18-24; n=3,400). METHODS: Targeted content was embedded directly into participants' social media feeds, with varying levels of impressions. RESULTS: Results indicate that increased exposure to anti-vaping messages significantly elevated perceived risk of harm (&#x3b2;=0.11, 95% CI: 0.03-0.20, p < .01) and social unacceptability of e-cigarette use (&#x3b2;=0.10, 95% CI: 0.03-0.18, p < .01), while decreasing intentions to vape (RRR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.36-0.97, p < .05). Notably, these attitudinal shifts occurred even with relatively low ad exposure and over an extended intervention period, while controlling for the e-cigarette use status (never, former, or current) of participants. Discussion These findings support the effectiveness of digital media campaigns in influencing health-related behaviors and attitudes among young adults. Specifically, embedding anti e-cigarette content directly in the feed of young adults is shown to be effective in shifting attitudes in a space where these young adults are already engaged. Limitations include limited ad impressions and minimal change in ad awareness recall, suggesting future research should explore longer interventions and broader nicotine product messaging.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Unanticipated Effects of Parental Social Media Use: Guidance for Clinicians.

"Sharenting," the practice of parents posting photographs, videos, and information about their children on social media, has an ever-growing presence in modern society. However, researchers and the public are now recognizing the potential consequences of sharing, including creation of permanent digital footprints, strained familial relationships, and threats to children's safety. Despite this emerging evidence, no U.S. clinical or legal guidelines exist for parents on safe sharing. Visits with behavioral health providers and family physicians can serve as key points for intervention. This column aims to provide clinicians with a better understanding of sharenting and its potential effects on patients and families, guidance on discussing safe online sharing, and a tool for parents and other caregivers to use when deciding whether to post.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

A Preventive Social Media Intervention for Perinatal Depression and Anxiety in Regional, Rural, and Remote Communities: Participatory Co-Design Study.

BACKGROUND: Perinatal depression and anxiety are significant public health concerns, affecting up to 1 in 5 women globally, with disproportionate burden carried by women in regional, rural, and remote communities where structural and social inequities amplify vulnerability. Access to perinatal mental health support in these settings is severely constrained by geographical isolation, workforce shortages, financial barriers, and a lack of culturally safe services. Prevention is recognized as critical to reducing this burden, with evidence suggesting that effective preventive approaches can reduce population-level illness by up to 40% and alleviate downstream demand on overstretched services. Digital mental health interventions hold promise for improving access to support, yet few are co-designed with underserved perinatal populations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the mental health needs of perinatal women in regional, rural, and remote communities and to co-design a framework for a preventive social media-based intervention informed by platform-specific affordances and constraints, using Northern Queensland, Australia, as an exemplar. METHODS: Using a participatory co-design approach, 26 perinatal women (21 postnatal and 5 antenatal) and 8 mental health care professionals from regional, rural, and remote Northern Queensland participated in focus groups or interviews, supplemented by ongoing consultation with a community advisory group comprising lived experience representatives, clinicians, and local community leaders. Qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify core community mental health needs. Identified needs were then examined through a needs-affordances framework to determine how specific platform features could address, enable, or constrain those needs in the context of a preventive intervention. RESULTS: Five core mental health needs were identified: (1) social connection and support; (2) personalized and respectful health care; (3) information that empowers; (4) place-based and culturally safe support; and (5) accessible, low-burden digital formats. Participants viewed social media as a potentially useful platform for fostering peer connection, normalizing perinatal experiences, and providing timely psychoeducation. However, both mothers and professionals expressed concerns about misinformation, harmful social comparison, and privacy risks that must be proactively addressed in program design. These insights were synthesized into a set of prototype design guidelines specifying recommended content, features, tone, and delivery formats to inform subsequent intervention development. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a place-based, co-designed needs-affordances framework to guide the development of a preventive social media-based intervention for perinatal mental health support in regional, rural, and remote communities. The findings demonstrate that social media is an acceptable and promising platform for preventive perinatal mental health support in these settings, provided that design is driven by community need, platform affordances are systematically analyzed, and known risks are explicitly mitigated. These findings address a significant gap in the literature and offer a replicable methodological approach for co-designing contextually relevant digital mental health interventions with underserved populations.

Humans↗
PubMed2025

The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae's song L'enfer on social media publications, calls to the national helpline, and suicide attempt rates in France.

On January 9, 2022, Belgian pop singer Stromae performed his new hit "L'enfer" live on French TV. The song addresses his personal struggles with suicidal ideation. To evaluate the impact of Stromae's performance, we modeled the evolution of hospital admission rates for suicide attempts (SAs) in France, calls to the national suicide prevention helpline (3114), and Twitter publications mentioning the singer or the helpline. We employed the Gombay test to identify change points within each time series. We identified a significant increase in mean SA rates among women aged 20-24&#xa0;years 6&#xa0;days after the singer's performance. No similar effect was observed in the general population or other young age groups. The show was immediately followed by a peak in tweets referring to the singer, while Twitter activity related to the 3114 remained modest. We did not observe any increase in calls to the helpline. Celebrity testimonies about suicidal experiences can help alleviate stigma but should be accompanied by prevention messages to reduce the risk of contagion.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

Promoting youth health by social empowerment: a media campaign targeting social capital.

This article reports on a public health campaign that aims to promote social ties and social trust as a means to improve the health of youths. Analyses on data from telephone survey interviews at baseline, Year 1, and Year 2 consider the trends and predictor patterns of 2 traditional social capital measures-civic perceptions and civic participation. Civic perceptions increased over the course of the focal media campaign, whereas civic participation remained constant. Civic participation was positively associated with TV and newspaper campaign recall at Year 1, whereas both civic participation and civic perceptions were positively associated with TV and newspaper campaign recall at Year 2. In addition, newspaper and TV news use play positive roles in predicting the 2 social capital measures at Year 1 and Year 2. The findings are discussed in terms of literature in the areas of public health and mass communication.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Challenging the collegiate rite of passage: a campus-wide social marketing media campaign to reduce binge drinking.

A social marketing media campaign, based on a normative social influence model and focused on normative messages regarding binge drinking, on a large, southwestern university campus has yielded positive preliminary results of an overall 29.2 percent decrease in binge drinking rates over a three-year period. The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey and the Health Enhancement Survey provided information on student knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors regarding alcohol and binge drinking. This study represents the first in-depth research on the impact of a media approach, based on a normative social influence model, to reduce binge drinking on a large university campus and has yielded promising initial results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2025

Genome-wide analysis of screen behaviors among adolescents identifies novel loci and overlap with educational attainment and mental disorders.

Technological devices play a central role in adolescents' life. Despite concerns about negative effects of excessive screen time, there is little knowledge of screen behaviors' genetic architecture. Using self-reports from adolescents in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;18,490), we performed genome-wide association analysis for four screen behaviors: time spent (1) watching television; (2) gaming; (3) sitting/lying down with a screen device; and (4) using social media. The resulting summary statistics were analysed using the conditional false discovery rate (condFDR) approach to increase genetic discovery. We also estimated SNP-heritabilities of the screen behaviors and genetic correlations with eight psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder,&#xa0;anorexia nervosa, cannabis use disorder and alcohol use disorder), and educational attainment. Screen behaviors displayed significant SNP-heritabilities (0.048-0.12). We observed significant genetic correlations between screen behaviors and psychiatric disorders (rg range: 0.21-0.42). Educational attainment demonstrated negative genetic correlation with screen behaviors, most strongly with social media use (rg&#x2009;=&#x2009;-&#x2009;0.69). CondFDR analysis identified three novel loci associated with social media use. Thus, we show that screen behaviors are heritable, polygenic traits that partly share genetic signal with mental disorders and educational attainment.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Media and secondhand smoke exposure: results from a national survey.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether associations between anti-secondhand smoke (SHS) media, social cognitions about SHS, and home restrictions on smoking follow patterns observed in smoking behavior. METHODS: Based on a nationally representative sample of 2348 US adults drawn from the American Legacy Foundation's American Smoking and Health Survey, we tested relationships among scales of anti-SHS media, social cognitions, and home restrictions. RESULTS: We found anti-SHS media and SHS cognitions, as well as social cognitions and home restrictions, to be significantly associated. Social cognitions mediated the relationship between anti-SHS media and home restrictions. CONCLUSIONS: Previously observed relationships between media, social cognitions, and smoking also exist for SHS. Anti-SHS media campaigns to increase home restrictions may help to reduce SHS exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

'Radical blueprint for social change'? Media representations of New Labour's policies on public health.

For almost two decades prior to the election of the New Labour government in 1997, inequalities in health were largely absent from the political debate in Britain. New Labour sought to bring inequalities, and the role of poverty as a 'root cause' of ill-health, back on to the public agenda. This paper analyses four key documents (Green and White Papers) laying out their proposals for public health. We explore the shifting emphasis on health inequalities between the four official documents, and between the documents and their associated press release. The paper also analyses how this translated into media coverage. It identifies common themes across the press coverage - such as criticisms about lack of targets - but also shows how coverage varied (e.g. between UK 'national' and 'Scottish' press). Finally, the study highlights the crucial issue of political context and news timing, illustrating how the English White Paper was overshadowed by other health stories which formed the basis for attacks on the Labour government in general and the Health Minister in particular.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2026

Post-Breakup Instagram Surveillance: Attachment Style, Personality Traits, and Breakup Distress as Predictors.

The end of a romantic relationship is one of the most emotionally challenging life events. Social media platforms such as Instagram enable users to monitor an ex-partner, a behavior known as Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES), which may complicate coping. This study examined associations with retrospectively reported IES on Instagram during the first 3 weeks post-breakup, focusing on attachment, personality, and breakup-related emotional distress. Previous studies suggest that higher anxious attachment and emotional distress are related to increased monitoring behaviors on Facebook. The present research extends this approach to Instagram, a popular platform among Generation Z, and additionally examines personality factors. Data from N = 232 participants (aged 18-27 years; 84 percent women), who had experienced a breakup within the past year and followed their ex-partner on Instagram, were collected using a cross-sectional online questionnaire. The survey included standardized measures and self-constructed items. Hierarchical regression analyses including breakup-related variables, mediation analyses, and independent-samples t-tests were conducted. Due to extremely low internal consistency, Agreeableness was excluded from inferential analyses. The analyses indicated that Extraversion was the only personality trait directly associated with increased IES. Attachment styles showed no direct associations after emotional distress was included in the model. Emotional distress emerged as the most consistent factor associated with IES, showing patterns consistent with indirect associations involving Neuroticism and anxious attachment, suggesting a central role of emotional distress in post-breakup surveillance behavior. These findings highlight digital monitoring as a potentially maladaptive coping strategy and underscore the importance of addressing social media use in post-breakup adjustment.

Humans↗
PubMed1997

Disasters, the media and social structures: a typology of credibility hierarchy persistence based on a newspaper coverage of the Love Canal and six other disasters.

The starting-point of this paper is the assumption that credibility and the right to be heard are differentially distributed in any social system and therefore a 'hierarchy of credibility' exists. To test this, the media coverage of the Love Canal, New York, hazardous waste landfill disaster and six other disasters was examined to determine if this hierarchy exists in all cases. A hierarchy of credibility emphasising the views of established news sources with routine and habitual access to the media was demonstrated in the majority of events examined However, the Love Canal disaster was one of two where this hierarchy was disrupted due to a number of factors. These included the contentious or political nature of the event, its duration, the extent of competition of credibility and coverage among news sources, the extent of information shortage, the type of news medium, the degree of sympathetic and representational salience of victims and the extent to which they organized and achieved status as 'newsmakers'. Building on disaster research, a model of the operation of the credibility hierarchy in coverage of disasters is presented and discussed.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2005

Impact of a social marketing media campaign on public awareness of hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Barriers to high blood pressure (BP) awareness and control are exacerbated by poor knowledge of the consequences and uncertainty regarding how to and who should direct care. We developed a social marketing hypertension awareness program to determine baseline awareness, knowledge, and treatment behavior, and then studied the impact of a targeted, media intervention among randomly surveyed adults at risk in a representative urban community compared to a control community immediately and 6 months after the intervention. METHODS: The program consisted of three random-digit telephone surveys conducted in two mid-sized Ontario cities to determine high BP awareness, knowledge, and treatment behavior. Using baseline knowledge and attitudes toward high BP in both communities, a social marketing awareness strategy and mass media intervention campaign incorporating television, radio, print, direct to patient, and interactive techniques was developed and implemented in the test city only. Both test and control cities were resurveyed immediately after and at 6 months post-media intervention to detect change and decay. RESULTS: A sample of 6873 men and women more than 35 years old who were aware of their high BP demonstrated a high prevalence of high BP in the general population ( approximately 34% in both communities). At baseline this population had poor knowledge of their own BP numbers and poor understanding of the diseases related to high BP. Although few considered high BP a health concern, they had good understanding of lifestyle interventions for high BP prevention and control. The number of the respondents who claimed to have high BP increased immediately after intervention in the test city (38%; P < .02), whereas the number of respondents who were treated and uncontrolled decreased (P < .05) compared to control. There was a significant increase in patients' knowledge of consequences and in their perception that they were most responsible for high BP control in the test city (P < .005) compared to control. At 6 months, no further changes were observed in those claiming to have high BP in either city, whereas decay to baseline in those treated but not controlled and those claiming responsibility for their BP control was observed in the test city. No changes were observed in the control city accept for an increase from baseline to 6 months in the percentage claiming to be treated but uncontrolled. We were unable to determine whether the increase in number treated but uncontrolled was due to a higher treatment rate, similar treatment rate but more patients being uncontrolled, or a combination of these scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: High BP is very prevalent in adults and knowledge of lifestyle options for management is encouraging. In the short-term, although our media awareness program increased the number of respondents claiming to have high BP and patient self-efficacy for BP control, this was not maintained. We did not change knowledge of consequences or importantly, the health importance of BP control among those at risk. Hence, in addition to a mass media campaign, attention should be focused on dissemination of awareness knowledge information through medical professionals at the point of care.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Communicating with the public: community-based nursing research and practice.

This paper presents examples of community-based nursing research in relation to selected health care trends that affect practice and considers ways the media can help community health nurses be more effective communicators with the public. Research provides evidence that community-based nursing practice includes quality services that can control costs; a focus on disease prevention and health promotion; the organization of services where people live, work, and learn; partnerships and coalitions; service to people across the life span; services to culturally diverse populations; access to services for at-risk populations; development of the community's capacity for health; work with policy makers for policy change; and efforts to make the environment healthier. Two approaches to communication with the public through the media, social marketing and media advocacy, are compared. It is recognized that community health nurses are well prepared and suited for media advocacy. Media advocacy can be used to not only communicate the effectiveness of community-based nursing practice but also to support the community's voice for public health.

Communication↗
PubMed1990

Two approaches to health promotion in the mass media.

This article concentrates on two strategies for health promotion in the mass media: social marketing aims to influence people's behaviour, media advocacy to influence their environment. The author argues that greater weight should be given to media advocacy than to social marketing so as to achieve an improved understanding of the conditions required for health.

Health Behavior↗