Creating opportunities for digital engagement and participation

Abstract

Worldwide, digital media are used by laypersons for health-related purposes. Laypersons' engagement and participation on the subject of health is the focus of this article, in which I explore how digital media create opportunities for laypersons to engage with information and participate on a health topic which has been subjected to controversy, namely HPV vaccination. Th e analysis is based on an inductive multidisciplinary literature review of research on digital media and HPV vaccination. In the analysis, I apply Corner's (2011) understanding of engagement and Kelty and colleagues' (2015) seven dimensions of participation. I fi nd two kinds of engagement, namely using digital media as information sources and interpersonal communication, that both only satisfi es few dimensions of participation. I argue that broader participation might be unachievable on health subjects such as vaccination and other subjects that require a high degree of expertise to understand. Due to this, laypersons cannot necessarily engage or participate further.