Barriers to health information on social media

Abstract

Introduction: The use of social media for self-management of health information is a recurrent practice for lay users who experience different health contexts. While facilitating access and sharing of information, social media can contribute to the creation of possible risks to health and well-being, since they expand the experiences of emotional vulnerability and misinformation. Objective: To discover the current evidence that impacts the beneficial use of social media for health information purposes, we sought to examine how barriers to health information on social media, perceived by lay users, are presented in recent empirical research. Methodology: A qualitative exploratory research was carried out through a literature review in the SCOPUS database. Results: It was observed that, although they are multiple and vary according to the health contexts and situational motivations, the barriers can be articulated in a mesh composed of the following meta-barriers: diasporic, misinformation, literacy, interaction and emotional. Conclusion: It is concluded that the mesh of barriers presented, associated with other structural barriers, can contribute to the construction of research instruments and digital interventions involving the use of social media for health information purposes.