Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27649758›Full record

ArticleGlobal health action2016

Use of social media for sexual health promotion: a scoping review.

Elia Gabarron, Rolf Wynn

Abstract readScoping Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Global health action, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
103citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

103 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  16. Measuring Acceptability and Engagement of The Keep It Up! Internet-Based HIV Prevention Randomized Controlled Trial for Young Men Who Have Sex With Men.AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education · 2019
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  17. Article
  18. Evaluation of a Community-Based Social Media Campaign for HIV Prevention Among Latino Sexual Minority Men.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026
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43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Elia GabarronNorwegian Centre for eHealth Research, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Rolf WynnDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn order to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the World Health Organization recommends educating people on sexual health. With more than 2 billion active users worldwide, online social media potentially represent powerful channels for health promotion, including sexual health.

objectiveTo review the scientific literature on the use of online social media for sexual health promotion.

designA search was conducted of scientific and medical databases, and grey literature was also included. The selected publications were classified according to their study designs, sexual health promotion main subject, target audience age, and social media use.

resultsFifty-one publications were included; 4 publications presenting randomized intervention studies, 39 non-randomized intervention studies, and 8 observational studies. In 29 publications (56.9%), the main subject of the sexual health promotion was 'general' or to increase STI testing. Thirty publications (58.8%) specifically focused on youth or young people (aged 11-29 years). Fourteen publications that used social media either as unique channels for sexual health promotion interventions or as a tool supporting the sexual health promotion reported an effect on behavior (27%), and two of those studies found a reduction in the number of positive chlamydia and gonorrhea cases linked to social media intervention. Forty-four publications (86.3%) involved Facebook in some way.

conclusionsAlthough billions of people worldwide actively use social media, we identified only 51 publications on the use of social media for promoting sexual health. About a quarter of the publications have identified promising results, and the evidence for positive effects of social media interventions for promoting sexual health is increasing. There is a need for more studies that explicitly discuss their theoretical framework, and that have strong research designs, in order to further increase the evidence base of the field.

Indexed as

Health PromotionSexual BehaviorSexual HealthSexually Transmitted DiseasesSocial MediaAdolescentAdultChildFemaleHumansMaleYoung Adulthealth educationhealth promotionsexual healthsexually transmitted infectionssocial mediasocial networking sites

Identifiers

PMID27649758
PMCPMC5030258

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.