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Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health

Social media offer opportunities to both produce and consume content related to health experiences. However, people's social media practices are likely to be influenced by a range of individual, social and environmental factors. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how engagement wi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fergie, Gillian, Hunt, Kate, Hilton, Shona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Pergamon 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5115652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27750067
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.006
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author Fergie, Gillian
Hunt, Kate
Hilton, Shona
author_facet Fergie, Gillian
Hunt, Kate
Hilton, Shona
author_sort Fergie, Gillian
collection PubMed
description Social media offer opportunities to both produce and consume content related to health experiences. However, people's social media practices are likely to be influenced by a range of individual, social and environmental factors. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how engagement with user-generated content can support people with long-term health conditions, and what limits users' adoption of these technologies in the everyday experience of their health condition. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with young adults, aged between 18 and 30 years, with experience of diabetes or a common mental health disorder (CMHD). We found that the online activities of these young adults were diverse; they ranged from regular production and consumption (‘prosumption’) of health-related user-generated content to no engagement with such content. Our analysis suggested three main types of users: ‘prosumers’; ‘tacit consumers’ and ‘non-engagers’. A key determinant of participants' engagement with resources related to diabetes and CMHDs in the online environment was their offline experiences of support. Barriers to young adults' participation in online interaction, and sharing of content related to their health experiences, included concerns about compromising their presentation of identity and adherence to conventions about what content is most appropriate for specific social media spaces. Based on our analysis, we suggest that social media do not provide an unproblematic environment for engagement with health content and the generation of supportive networks. Rather, producing and consuming user-generated content is an activity embedded within individuals' specific health experiences and is impacted by offline contexts, as well as their daily engagement with, and expectations, of different social media platforms.
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spelling pubmed-51156522016-12-01 Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health Fergie, Gillian Hunt, Kate Hilton, Shona Soc Sci Med Article Social media offer opportunities to both produce and consume content related to health experiences. However, people's social media practices are likely to be influenced by a range of individual, social and environmental factors. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how engagement with user-generated content can support people with long-term health conditions, and what limits users' adoption of these technologies in the everyday experience of their health condition. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with young adults, aged between 18 and 30 years, with experience of diabetes or a common mental health disorder (CMHD). We found that the online activities of these young adults were diverse; they ranged from regular production and consumption (‘prosumption’) of health-related user-generated content to no engagement with such content. Our analysis suggested three main types of users: ‘prosumers’; ‘tacit consumers’ and ‘non-engagers’. A key determinant of participants' engagement with resources related to diabetes and CMHDs in the online environment was their offline experiences of support. Barriers to young adults' participation in online interaction, and sharing of content related to their health experiences, included concerns about compromising their presentation of identity and adherence to conventions about what content is most appropriate for specific social media spaces. Based on our analysis, we suggest that social media do not provide an unproblematic environment for engagement with health content and the generation of supportive networks. Rather, producing and consuming user-generated content is an activity embedded within individuals' specific health experiences and is impacted by offline contexts, as well as their daily engagement with, and expectations, of different social media platforms. Pergamon 2016-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5115652/ /pubmed/27750067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.006 Text en © 2016 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Fergie, Gillian
Hunt, Kate
Hilton, Shona
Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title_full Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title_fullStr Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title_full_unstemmed Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title_short Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
title_sort social media as a space for support: young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5115652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27750067
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.006
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