Use of social networks for data collection in scientific productions in the health area: Integrative literature review

Abstract

Objective: To investigate evidence on the use of social networks to collect data in scientific productions in the health area. Material and method: An integrative literature review from primary studies indexed in the SciELO, PubMed, LILACS, Scopus, and Web of Science platforms. Results: 16 scientific articles were selected, of which nine focused on the use of WhatsApp; five, on the use of Facebook; and two, on employing Twitter to collect data in scientific productions. Growth was noted on the number of investigations associated to the use of social networks, although an important paradigm still exists related to the use to generate scientific evidence, resulting in a still low number of investigations on this theme. Conclusions: The health area needs to approach evermore the development of research associated to social networks, given that this would enable a viable and rapid intervention in obtaining responses, besides being a low cost and very promising tool for data collection.