This week I’ve been reading about mass media approaches to health education and promotion.
Traditional approaches such as TV and radio are usually successful in their reach, but often struggle in their impact due to the lack of engagement of the receivers of the message. Social media has the potential to offer numerous similar benefits to the traditional approaches (cheap, easy, accessible, on trend), while removing some of the constraints of a unidirectional approach, providing users with an opportunity for increased interactivity, and an opportunity for them to clarify questions and understand the message.
Videos such as this one from the David Cornfield melanoma fund have been shared widely – providing a cheap and emotive approach to health education. The video uses health professionals as well as individuals affected by the disease to add credibility to the source. This video has been watched on youtube by more than 3 million people, and shared by many more through facebook and twitter.
Other areas where social media has been used in health education and promotion include:
- Sexual health promotion in youth.
- Healthy UBC (a work/school-based blog approach).
- Aboriginal youth.
- Exercise.
Of course, there are many questions with respect to the use of social media in these areas, including ethical issues, quality concerns and equity concerns (see this great presentation from a couple of lecturers at Stanford and University of New Mexico that outlines these ideas further).
Most importantly, only time will tell what the true impact will be of these new methods in terms of behaviour change (for example, decrease in number of melanoma cases). The broad reach of the internet and mobile technologies that can be used to read the information could level the playing field, making health education more equitable, and potentially reducing gaps in health literacy worldwide. Fingers crossed, for all of our sakes that these approaches are seen to have lasting beneficial effects both for individuals and populations.