Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals
Smailhodzic E, Hooijsma W, Boonstra A, Langley DJ
BMC health services research · 413 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Systematic review (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
Based on full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2016-08-25 · BMC Health Serv Res · vol. 16 · issue 1 · p. 442
- Publisher
- BioMed Central
- Cited
- 864 citations · more than 99% of similar papers · 7.0× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 55 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Social Media in Health Education · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- social media use, patient self-management, psychological well-being, subjective well-being, social media addiction, privacy loss, social comparison, network support, patient-physician communication
- MeSH
- humans, self care, professional-patient relations, health personnel, female, male, consumer health information, social media
4 authors
From NL
- Edin Smailhodžić · correspondingUniversity of Groningen
- Wyanda HooijsmaUniversity of Groningen
- Albert BoonstraUniversity of Groningen
- David LangleyNetherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research; University of Groningen
Abstract
Background
Since the emergence of social media in 2004, a growing percentage of patients use this technology for health related reasons. To reflect on the alleged beneficial and potentially harmful effects of social media use by patients, the aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the extant literature on the effects of social media use for health related reasons on patients and their relationship with healthcare professionals.
Methods
We conducted a systematic literature review on empirical research regarding the effects of social media use by patients for health related reasons. The papers we included met the following selection criteria: (1) published in a peer-reviewed journal, (2) written in English, (3) full text available to the researcher, (4) contain primary empirical data, (5) the users of social media are patients, (6) the effects of patients using social media are clearly stated, (7) satisfy established quality criteria.
Results
Initially, a total of 1,743 articles were identified from which 22 were included in the study. From these articles six categories of patients' use of social media were identified, namely: emotional, information, esteem, network support, social comparison and emotional expression. The types of use were found to lead to seven identified types of effects on patients, namely improved self-management and control, enhanced psychological well-being, and enhanced subjective well-being, diminished subjective well-being, addiction to social media, loss of privacy, and being targeted for promotion. Social media use by patients was found to affect the healthcare professional and patient relationship, by leading to more equal communication between the patient and healthcare professional, increased switching of doctors, harmonious relationships, and suboptimal interaction between the patient and healthcare professional.
Conclusions
Our review provides insights into the emerging utilization of social media in healthcare. In particular, it identifies types of use by patients as well as the effects of such use, which may differ between patients and doctors. Accordingly, our results framework and propositions can serve to guide future research, and they also have practical implications for healthcare providers and policy makers.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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