Table 2 Perceptions of social media use for population health
| Â | n | (%)a |
|---|---|---|
Population health areas that would benefit from social media use | ||
 Promotion of health behaviors | 187 | (60.71) |
 Community engagement | 147 | (47.73) |
 Preventive care (e.g. diabetes screening, immunization) | 125 | (40.58) |
 Chronic disease management | 119 | (38.64) |
 Care coordination | 78 | (25.32) |
 Mental health | 55 | (17.86) |
 Social support | 54 | (17.53) |
 Health-social interface | 56 | (18.18) |
 Population health policy | 34 | (11.04) |
 Intermediate to long term care | 22 | (7.14) |
 Palliative/End-of-life care | 18 | (5.84) |
 Research | 10 | (3.25) |
 Acute disease management | 9 | (2.92) |
 Post-acute care recovery | 8 | (2.60) |
Age groups (years) that would benefit from social media use | ||
 12 and below | 46 | (14.94) |
 13–19 | 160 | (51.95) |
 20–29 | 256 | (83.12) |
 30–39 | 284 | (92.21) |
 40–49 | 276 | (89.61) |
 50–59 | 210 | (68.18) |
 60–69 | 117 | (37.99) |
 70 and above | 56 | (18.18) |
Recipients that would benefit from social media use | ||
 Caregivers | 269 | (87.34) |
 Healthcare professionals in the community | 259 | (84.09) |
 Patients | 238 | (77.27) |
 Healthcare professionals in acute hospitals | 170 | (55.19) |
 Social care professionals in acute hospitals | 161 | (52.27) |
Useful modes of communication in population health | ||
 Social media sites/apps | 237 | (76.95) |
 Face-to-face group sessions | 225 | (73.05) |
 Websites | 165 | (53.57) |
 Text messages | 102 | (33.12) |
 Telephone calls | 84 | (27.27) |
Main challenges for the use of social media | ||
 Time investment by health care professionals | 173 | (56.17) |
 Patient adoption | 163 | (52.92) |
 Infrastructure development of technological approaches | 158 | (51.30) |
 Providing supervision and follow-up | 151 | (49.03) |
 Adoption by health care professionals | 140 | (45.45) |
 Cost investment | 133 | (43.18) |