Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Aug 26;16(1):442.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1691-0.

Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals

Edin Smailhodzic  1 , Wyanda Hooijsma  2 , Albert Boonstra  2 , David J Langley  2   3
Affiliations

Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals

Edin Smailhodzic et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

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.

Keywords: Health; Healthcare professionals; Patients; Social media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of study selection process
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rupert DJ, Moultrie RR, Read JG, Amoozegar JB, Bornkessel AS, Donoghue AC, Sullivan HW. Perceived healthcare provider reactions to patient and caregiver use of online health communities. Patient Educ Couns. 2014;96(3):320–326. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2014.05.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ho YX, O’Connor BH, Mulvaney SA. Features of online health communities for adolescents with type 1 diabetes. West J Nurs Res. 2014;36(9):1183–1198. doi: 10.1177/0193945913520414. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. McCaughey D, Baumgardner C, Gaudes A, LaRochelle D, Jiaxin K, Wu KJ, Raichura T. Best practices in social media: Utilizing a value matrix to assess social media’s impact on health care. Soc Sci Comput Rev. 2014;32(5):575–589. doi: 10.1177/0894439314525332. - DOI
    1. Williams J. A new roadmap for healthcare business success. J Healthc Financ Manage Assoc. 2011;65(5):62–69. - PubMed
    1. Li C, Bernoff J. Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 2008.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources