Can social networks help people change their health behaviors? Some have claimed yes, some no, and digital public health heavyweight, the brilliant Susannah Fox, weighed in today at the #DCWEEK Pew event: Public Health: What’s Digital Got to Do With it?
The answer: we don’t yet know, but if Susannah has anything to do with it (and, uh, she does!), we may know someday.
So, what do we know about how social relationships affect health behaviors?
According to Susannah, we know:
- Health is social. In a recent Pew report, two thirds who looked online for health information talked with someone else, usually a peer, about the information they found.
- Chronic disease has an independent negative affect on having access to the internet, but, once online, having a chronic disease is associated positively with using the internet for health, blogging for health, participating in online discussion on health, etc.
- Offline social networks affect behaviors. Obesity can spread through social networks (check out the book Connected, which discusses how obesity spread through the Framingham heart study’s participants’ networks).
- Text reminders can help with medication adherence. A Boston study showed this to be the case in getting people to use sunscreen.
So now what?
According to Susannah, we already have a learning system — social media. While we don’t yet know the effects, we do know that people are using social media, and we can make some inferences based on offline social networks what the effects MIGHT be. Again, the research has not caught up with our eagerness to know.
Susannah concluded with some great food for thought, and an appeal for more research beyond anecdotal examples.
- Can there be a network effect?
- Can people change their health behaviors based on what they see in their personal online social networks?
- What is the power of peer to peer advice and how can we harness it?
I’m sure looking forward to seeing what further research comes out of these questions. You?
