Dinkum Journal of Social Innovations (DJSI)

Publication History

Submitted: July 04, 2023
Accepted: July 20, 2023
Published: August 01, 2023

Identification

D-0194

Citation

Kaniz Saad & Shamima Parvez (2023). Impact of Social Media on Health Awareness Campaigns. Dinkum Journal of Social Innovations, 2(08):497-502.

Copyright

© 2023 DJSI. All rights reserved

Impact of Social Media on Health Awareness CampaignsReview Article

Kaniz Saad 1*, Shamima Parvez2

  1. Hazara University. Mansehra, Pakistan; kanizss18@gmail.com
  2. Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan; shamparvez2011@gmail.com

*             Correspondence: kanizss18@gmail.com

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the health communication campaigns run by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government on social media had any effect on the users of those platforms. According to the findings this review, health awareness campaigns on social media have resulted in respondents gaining more information about their own health. In addition, these campaigns have made them aware that they are susceptible to diseases, and if the underlying health problems are not addressed, there will be serious consequences. In addition, they responded that these health campaigns are beneficial to them in their daily lives, and that they are aware of the various obstacles that prevent them from positively responding to the campaign messages. However, the use of social media did not have any correlation with the other factors that were taken into consideration in this study.

Keywords: health, social media, diseases, social media

  1. INTRODUCTION

Through the use of both television and radio, numerous social projects aimed at enhancing the quality of life of Pakistani citizens are being carried out in the country. The most notable of these kinds of social activities are the campaigns aimed at raising awareness about health issues. The efforts, which were unfortunately unsuccessful, resulted in people being unable to respond to the media messages regarding the prevention of diseases. Because people are embarrassed to discuss the topic of family planning, the public has also ignored commercials that address the topic. Given the, Nevertheless, thanks to developments in social media, it is now possible to read such communications in isolation. Additionally, both governmental and non-governmental organizations are placing a greater emphasis on the utilization of social media in order to advocate for the promotion of health literacy. “Health Literacy has been described as the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to obtain access to, understand, and use information in ways that promote and preserve good health,” as stated by the World Health Organisation (2009). In this day and age of rapid technological advancement, networking through social media has proven to be an effective way of bringing people together. The content of newspapers, television, and radio can now be accessed by the general public thanks to the proliferation of tools provided by social media. A smartphone is required in order to access the content of social media platforms. According to Farooq (2019), there were 37 million active social media users in Pakistan as of January 2019, which is equivalent to approximately 18 percent of the population. Because social media is accessible to a wide range of users, including government agencies, private firms, advertisers, non-profit organizations, and business owners, it is frequently used for public relations, propaganda, marketing, and social campaigning. These applications are common because social media is widely available. Furthermore, Boczkowski and Mitchelstein (2013) highlight the fact that the use of the internet and consumption of social media have been employed at the macro level as indicators of the impact that education and awareness campaigns have had. According to Robinson, Tansil, and colleagues (2014), health awareness campaigns are multi-faceted efforts to create messages that are intended to educate and persuade target audiences to adopt and maintain healthy habits. These messages are then disseminated in an effort to raise awareness about a particular issue. There is a high probability that many operations will have the following results: removing obstacles to change, assisting individuals in adopting healthy social norms, and relating particular valued feelings to change. These particular adjustments serve to reaffirm the goal shift and boost the likelihood of developing new habits. An anti-smoking project, for instance, could demonstrate the health risks and benefits of quitting smoking by providing a hotline number for a customer service line that reminds smokers of healthy social norms to quit, and identifies with good self-interest, or it could combine these characteristics according to the requirements of the project. In either case, the goal would be to encourage smokers to give up the habit. In recent years, various social welfare organizations, along with the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, have utilized social media profiles hosted on their respective websites in order to carry out health communication campaigns. In addition to that, these campaigns received a significant amount of financial support. In order to acquire more information regarding this matter, a study has been carried out in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan to investigate the influence that health communication campaigns having to do with social media have had. The following health-related campaigns were examined in this study; This awareness campaign focuses on creating awareness among thepeople of Khyber                Pakhtunkhwa. Though the Sehat Sahulat programme, the flagship project of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is a blessing for millions of patients. The initiative was first launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as Sehat Insaf Card in September 2016toprovidefree-of- charge health careto families living below the poverty line. In view of rising trend of VBDs in KPK particularly leishmaniosis, provincial Roll Back Malaria (RBM) program in 2014 was converted into Integrated Vector Management Program with some revised roles and responsibilities. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, non-traumatic amputations, heart attacks and life expectancy is shortened by approximately10 years, if it is not controlled. The Impact of the aforementioned health communication campaigns on the users of social media at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been studied to analyze the health information these campaigns conveys. The impact of the aforementioned campaigns on the beliefs as identified by health belief model as (vulnerability, severity of health issue, perceived benefits and perceived barriers), attitude towards health information and behavior change stages has been the key highlights of this study.

  1. LITERATURE REVIEW

Communication campaigns are characterized by being “A purposeful attempt to inform or influence behaviors in large audiences over a defined period of time using an organized set of communication activities and featuring an array of mediated messages in multiple channels generally to produce noncommercial benefits to individuals and society,” (Atkin along with Rice, 2012). According to Chambers (2013), a social networking site is a type of web-based communication service that enables users to create public profiles within an online community and share their thoughts, ideas, and information with other members of that community. According to Youmei (2010), the social media technologies that are the most widely used are Facebook, Wiki, YouTube, bulletin boards, LinkedIn, blogging, and twittering. Sampogna et al. (2017) carried out research to determine the effect that social marketing strategies have on reducing stigma associated with mental health. They highlighted in considerable detail the impact that social marketing initiatives had on changing people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to mental diseases in a population in England. The various aspects of social connectedness that have been investigated by social scientists are provided by relationships between people. Isolation from others, also known as social isolation, occurs when one does not have any social relationships. An individual’s overall level of involvement in both unofficial and official social interactions, such as those with religious institutions and volunteer organizations, is considered to be an indicator of their level of social integration. Aspects of relationships that are beneficial, such as receiving emotional support from significant others, are included. Also included are aspects of relationships that can be challenging, such as conflict and stress. The web of social interactions that surrounds an individual is referred to as their social network, along with the structural elements that make up that network, such as the nature and intensity of each individual social contact. (2008) According to Smith and Christakis. Both the number and the quality of a person’s social contacts have an effect on that person’s mental health as well as their health behaviors, physical health, and mortality risk. The contribution of sociologists has been essential in establishing the connection between social ties and health outcomes, discovering the reasons behind this connection, and locating social variation (for example, by gender and race) at the population level. According to Umberson et al. (2010), the most important social ties for health change throughout a person’s lifetime. According to their findings, parents have the greatest influence on their children’s health, while peers become increasingly important during adolescence, intimate partners become increasingly important during adulthood, and adult children take on a greater role in later life. The study of politics and society often finds that exposure in the media is at the core of many of the most pressing issues. To what extent, for instance, is intolerance or hatred fostered among socially disadvantaged populations by the media? Has a more politically charged atmosphere in the media made it more difficult for the public to access a wide variety of points of view? Is the media at least partly to blame for the increasing polarization of political opinions? Is there a way to have a variety of choices available to you? Is the current media landscape more likely to foster political engagement, indifference, or cynicism among its consumers? Is there a part that the media can play in this situation? Is it possible that being around faceless strangers can influence the degree to which one trusts or fears political institutions? Is it accurate to say that the presence of incivility and vulgarity in the media makes it more difficult for individuals to empathize with a perspective that is contrary to their own? What kind of effects does coverage of elections have on voters’ perceptions of democratic institutions and politicians? Estimates of media exposure that are reliable and accurate are necessary in order to address these and other challenges; however, the definition of this concept as well as how it should be measured are still up for discussion (De Vreese et al. 2011). According to Rincon et al. (2021), health knowledge is a theoretical construct that incorporates extensive and specific information on the origin of illness, prevalence of illness, risk factors, prevention of illness, transmission of illness, symptomatology of illness, and treatment, in addition to health services and patient rights. These categories denote an objective nature due to the fact that the data was obtained from authorized external sources. As a result, the data can be considered explicit and factual. Previous studies have demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between adequate levels of health information in the community and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of disease. In a similar vein, public health information plays a significant role in reducing risky behaviors and encouraging the adoption of protective and preventative activities during times of public health emergencies. The impact of a health communication programmers or campaign on increasing quality of life or reducing detrimental impacts on persons can be measured to determine its success (Bennett & Glasgow, 2009).

  1. FINDING

It has been determined, through the process that the majority of the items that were designed for various constructs (vulnerability, severity of health issues, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, attitude towards health information, and influence of indirect channels of communication). This demonstrates that social media platforms are an efficient medium for the transmission of messages across the many different demographics that make up society. These findings are consistent with the research that was carried out by (Baruah, 2012). People’s behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes towards health information are being significantly improved thanks in large part to the role that social media is playing thanks to its advantages of being inexpensive and having a wide reach. The health indicators were assumed to be below the standards in the various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where this study was carried out. These districts are located in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of the causes is that most people do not have the necessary level of awareness. On the other hand, social media platforms offer respondents access to specific information that is regularly updated and presented in a format that is convenient for them. The residents of this establishment have been given the opportunity to obtain the necessary information in an easy and convenient manner. In addition, the respondents’ agreement with a number of the items demonstrates that they are concerned about their own health and that the health messages disseminated via social media make them more aware of the diseases that are addressed in the four campaigns that have been mentioned. This finding is in line with the finding of the study that was carried out by (Wang, Li, Hutch, Naidech, and Luo, 2021), in which the researchers came to the conclusion that social media may have, at the very least, shifted the information landscape. Acquisition and dissemination of a significantly large population of internet users with an eye towards increasing their level of interactivity. The impact of health communication campaigns on the level of health information and awareness of the respondents was the topic of the second research question that was investigated. According to the findings, various health education campaigns are effective in improving the respondents’ health knowledge. This variable has shown a range of mean values, with the lowest one being 4.10 and the highest one being 4.10. This indicates that the vast majority of respondents have either a strong agreement or an agreement with the statements pertaining to this variable. The findings of these studies, which were carried out by researchers, are consistent with one another. For instance, a study conducted by Al-Muammar, Noor Saeed, Alafif, and others (2021) found that health information that is sought from the internet and social media platforms has a significant impact on the population. This highlights the necessity of credible information sources and the knowledge of how to access them. According to the results of the correlation between the various constructs, the demographic variable age was found to have a negative and significant relationship with vulnerability. This indicates that as age increases, vulnerability decreases. Additionally, it has a positive correlation with indirect channels of communication, which indicates that as one’s age increases, so does the influence of indirect channels of communication. In a similar vein, an individual’s level of education exhibits an inverse and statistically significant correlation with vulnerability. However, there is no connection between income and any of the constructs. In addition, a positive and significant correlation was found between the independent variable health information and vulnerability, perceived barriers, and severity of health issues. There was found to be a positive and significant correlation between the mediator variable of Influence of indirect Channels and vulnerability, as well as a positive and significant correlation between the mediator variable and the severity of health issues. Concerning the relationship between the number of campaign posts seen on social media and the amount of time spent using social media as a variable, this study looked for a correlation between the amount of time spent using social media and the number of campaign posts seen on social media. The findings of this study indicate that there is no significant correlation between the use of social media and any of the other factors that were taken into consideration in this investigation. Several studies were carried out in the field of health communication; however, none of those studies considered the possibility of correlating the health information with the other independent variables that were taken into consideration in this study. The following studies were carried out, each of which took a unique approach to the problem. As a consequence, no results that either supported or contradicted these findings could be mentioned.

  1. CONCLUSIONS

This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding the utilization of social media platforms for the dissemination of information regarding public health. This study laid a strong groundwork for future research in the field of health communication by providing a solid foundation. The impact was evaluated in terms of people’s attitudes towards their health. In the first instance, an informative review of the literature was carried out. This provided a high-level overview of what is known about this topic, including the identification of evidence gaps. In addition, evidence gaps were discussed. It was determined that the social media campaigns that were the focus of the study did not have any available systematic reviews. A search of the literature was carried out for all of the variables that were discussed in this investigation, as well as for studies that were carried out in other nations within the same field. According to the results of our research, utilizing various social media platforms may have a positive impact on the level of public awareness. According to the findings of this study, different social media campaigns have an impact on users’ perceptions of their own health, including their feelings of vulnerability and the severity of the problems they face, as well as the perceived benefits and perceived barriers. The authorities in charge of public health may be able to effectively use social media platforms to raise awareness about public health by disseminating brief messages to specific populations in need of education. To validate how social media channels can be used to increase health literacy and the adoption of healthy behaviors in a cross-cultural setting in Pakistan, however, additional research is required.

  • REFERENCES
  • Bennett, G. G., & Glasgow, R. E. (2009). The delivery of public health interventions via the Internet: actualizing theirpotential. Annual Review of Public Health, 30, 273-292.
  • Farooq, M. (2019). Active social media users in Pakistan grow by 5.7%: Report. Retrieved from https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/02/05/active-social-media-users-in-pakistan-grow-by-5-7-report/
  • Mitchelstein, E., & Boczkowski, P. J. (2009). Between tradition and change: A review of recent research on online news production. Journalism, 10(5), 562-586.
  • Rice, R. E., & Atkin, C. K. (Eds.). (2012). Public communication campaigns. SAGE publications.
  • Robinson, M. N., Tansil, K. A., Elder, R. W., Soler, R. E., Labre, M. P., Mercer, S. L., … & Community Preventive Services Task Force. (2014). Mass media health communication campaigns combined with health-related product distribution: a community            guide     systematic           review. American              Journal of            Preventive Medicine, 47(3), 360-371.
  • Sampogna, G., Bakolis, I., Evans-Lacko, S., Robinson, E., Thornicroft, G., & Henderson, C. (2017). The impact of social marketing campaigns on reducing mental health stigma: Results from the 2009–2014 Time to Change programme. European Psychiatry, 40, 116-122.
  • Wang, H., Li,Y.,Hutch,M., Naidech,A.,& Luo,Y.(2021). Usingtweets tounderstand how COVID-19–Related health beliefs are affected in the age of social media: Twitter data analysis study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(2), e26302.
  • World Health Organization. (2009). Health literacy and health behavior. 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion.
  • Demongeot, M., & Klaus, O. (2023). Is the Mideast Gulf Ready for Non-Dollar Trade? Energy Intelligence, 3. https://www.energyintel.com/00000186-3aad-d94d-a19e-bbedc2700004
  • Hisham, L. (2023, March 15). The Middle East Axis is Changing… The Implications of the Saudi-Iranian Agreement with Chinese Mediation. Egypt 360 website. April 8, 2023, https://2u.pw/3lG47n
  • Mille, S. (2023). Oil Pricing Without Dollars: Is It Possible? Energy Intelligence, 4. https://www.energyintel.com/00000184-15bf-df66-a797-ddffc2380000
  • Reuters. (2023). Iraq to allow trade with China in yuan. Reuters, 2. https://www.reuters.com/business/iraq-allow-trade-with-china-yuan -state-media-2023-02-22
  • Said, S., & Kalin , S. (2023). Saudi Arabia Considers Accepting Yuan Instead of Dollars for Chinese Oil Sales. WSJ, 2. https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-considers-accepting-yuan-instead-of-dollars-for-chinese-oil-sales-11647351541?mod=world_major_2_pos1i
  • Sofuoglu, M. (2023, March 10). How China’s proactive Middle East policy can shape regional balance. BIR AY ONCE magazine, p. 2. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/how-china-s- proactive-middle-east-policy-can-shape-regional-balance-66318
  • Sputnik Arabia. (2023). What does it mean for Saudi Arabia to consider selling oil to China in yuan. Sputnik Arabia, 3. https://2u.pw/MkOvrd
  • SRATEGIECS. (2023, July 7). Chinese Strategy in the Middle East from an Analytical Perspective, Strategies. Retrieved April 9, 2023, https: https://2u.pw/SVrW8O
  • Degan, S. (2017, July 11). China and the Government of the Middle East in the New Era. Journal of the Arab Future, p. 32.
  • TRT Arabic. (2023). What are the implications of pricing the Gulf oil in Chinese yuan instead of the US dollar? TRT Arabic, 4. https://2u.pw/kgmaia

Publication History

Submitted: July 04, 2023
Accepted: July 20, 2023
Published: August 01, 2023

Identification

D-0194

Citation

Kaniz Saad & Shamima Parvez (2023). Impact of Social Media on Health Awareness Campaigns. Dinkum Journal of Social Innovations, 2(08):497-502.

Copyright

© 2023 DJSI. All rights reserved