Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27750067›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2016

Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health.

Gillian Fergie, Kate Hunt, Shona Hilton

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 5 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

40 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Identifying Social Media-Based Interactions That Help Adults to Adhere to Weight Loss Goals: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
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  3. Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Gillian FergieMRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB, UK. Electronic address: gillian.fergie@glasgow.ac.uk.
Kate HuntMRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB, UK. Electronic address: kate.hunt@glasgow.ac.uk.
Shona HiltonMRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB, UK. Electronic address: shona.hilton@glasgow.ac.uk.

Funding

Chief Scientist Office SPHSU12Medical Research Council MC_U130085862Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/12Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/15Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/3Medical Research Council MC_UU_12017/6
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Social media offer opportunities to both produce and consume content related to health experiences. However, people's social media practices are likely to be influenced by a range of individual, social and environmental factors. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how engagement with user-generated content can support people with long-term health conditions, and what limits users' adoption of these technologies in the everyday experience of their health condition. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with young adults, aged between 18 and 30 years, with experience of diabetes or a common mental health disorder (CMHD). We found that the online activities of these young adults were diverse; they ranged from regular production and consumption ('prosumption') of health-related user-generated content to no engagement with such content. Our analysis suggested three main types of users: 'prosumers'; 'tacit consumers' and 'non-engagers'. A key determinant of participants' engagement with resources related to diabetes and CMHDs in the online environment was their offline experiences of support. Barriers to young adults' participation in online interaction, and sharing of content related to their health experiences, included concerns about compromising their presentation of identity and adherence to conventions about what content is most appropriate for specific social media spaces. Based on our analysis, we suggest that social media do not provide an unproblematic environment for engagement with health content and the generation of supportive networks. Rather, producing and consuming user-generated content is an activity embedded within individuals' specific health experiences and is impacted by offline contexts, as well as their daily engagement with, and expectations, of different social media platforms.

Indexed as

PerceptionSocial SupportAdolescentAdultDiabetes MellitusFemaleHumansMaleMental DisordersPeer GroupQualitative ResearchSocial MediaDiabetesE-healthHealth experiencesMental healthSocial mediaSocial supportUK

Identifiers

PMID27750067
PMCPMC5115652

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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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.