Use of Social Media for Injury Prevention: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Traumatic injury is a substantial burden for public health. Injury prevention can reduce the risk of injury by promoting healthy behaviors. It is unknown whether injury prevention education shared on social media is effective at promoting behavior change to reduce injuries. The purpose of this integrative review is to identify the influence of social media in providing injury prevention education to the public. An integrative literature review was conducted. The following databases were searched: CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Applied Science & Technology Source. Studies were included if they were published between 2006 and 2018. Exclusion criteria included self-inflicted or intentional injuries, postinjury online interventions, support groups, online surveys, blogs, editorial content, YouTube videos, or studies of online surveillance tools.The initial search yielded 583 studies. Twelve studies met inclusion criteria. Two major themes were identified: social media content analysis and injury prevention through social media.The public is actively discussing injuries on social media, although unregulated online content may deliver inaccurate or false messages. Online conversation intensifies when major news stories are released, particularly when a celebrity or athlete is involved. Public health should use these patterns of major news stories to influence and shape online conversations about injury. Social media offers opportunity to understand, and trend, public perception of injuries. Additional research is needed to measure the effect of injury prevention delivered over social media.

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