A Mixed Methods Exploration of Social Media Use for Health Information in Under-Resourced Communities

Nishita Matangi (), Maud Joachim-Célestin, Cristie Granillo, Valeria Rodarte, Beverly Buckles, Theresa Ashby, Nikhil Thiruvengadam and Susanne Montgomery ()
Additional contact information
Nishita Matangi: School of Behavioral Health, Loma Linda University, 11065 Campus St, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA
Maud Joachim-Célestin: School of Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Studies, Loma Linda University, 1686 Barton Rd., Redlands, CA 92373, USA
Cristie Granillo: School of Behavioral Health, Loma Linda University, 11065 Campus St, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA
Valeria Rodarte: Institute for Community Partnerships, Loma Linda University Health, 11188 Anderson St, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA
Beverly Buckles: School of Behavioral Health, Loma Linda University, 11065 Campus St, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA
Theresa Ashby: School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, 24951 Circle Dr, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA
Nikhil Thiruvengadam: School of Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Studies, Loma Linda University, 1686 Barton Rd., Redlands, CA 92373, USA
Susanne Montgomery: School of Behavioral Health, Loma Linda University, 11065 Campus St, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 7, 1-23

Abstract: Social media (SM) use and the burden on healthcare systems have concurrently increased, with the latter resulting in longer wait times and higher costs. As a result, more people seem to use social media to access health information (HI). This study explores how SM is used for accessing HI within an under-resourced community. In this mixed methods study, respondents (N = 256) completed online English and Spanish Qualtrics surveys assessing their use of healthcare services and social media, and its use for HI. We also explored respondents’ experience in understanding and using the HI they found on SM. Qualitative inquiries (N = 7) included focus groups and key informant interviews and expanded on the survey results. Results indicated that most participants used SM for HI. Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok were associated with looking up HI before and after receiving care and for health decision-making and for considering treatments or medication after seeing information about these on social media. To create effective messaging that is accepted, relatable and easy to access for the audiences they seek to reach, healthcare organizations must understand how SM is used as a source of HI. Exploring the associations between SM algorithms, health literacy, access to healthcare and SM use can help improve health communication strategies to be used on SM platforms.

Keywords: health communication; health literacy; social media; digital literacy; health inequities; organizational health literacy; under-resourced communities; mixed methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1081/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1081/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:7:p:1081-:d:1695824

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().