SEARCHSYSTEMATIC_REVIEWpublic health, epidemiology

systematic_review·public health, epidemiology, systematic review, family medicine, cardiology·PMC10131824

The Impact of Social Media Interventions on Weight Reduction and Physical Activity Improvement Among Healthy Adults: Systematic Review

Journal of Medical Internet Research · 4 authors, 1 centre

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TL;DR

This systematic review of 16 randomized trials found that evidence regarding the effectiveness of social media interventions for improving physical activity and weight loss among healthy adults is mixed, with no consistent relationship established between user engagement and behavior change.

Full summary

107 CHARS

The narrative synthesis found mixed evidence for the effectiveness of these interventions on both outcomes.

STUDY TYPE

systematic_review

SPECIALTY

public health

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AI pipeline

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100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10131824

The Impact of Social Media Interventions on Weight Reduction and Physical Activity Improvement Among Healthy Adults: Systematic Review

Journal of Medical Internet Research

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ABSTRACT

Background A sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese are well-established cardiovascular risk factors and contribute substantially to the global burden of disease. Changing such behavior is complex and requires support. Social media interventions show promise in supporting health behavior change, but their impact is unclear. Moreover, previous reviews have reported contradictory evidence regarding the relationship between engagement with social media interventions and the efficacy of these interventions. Objective This review aimed to critically synthesize available evidence regarding the impact of social media interventions on physical activity and weight among healthy adults. In addition, this review examined the effect of engagement with social media interventions on their efficacy. Methods CINAHL and MEDLINE were searched for relevant randomized trials that were conducted to investigate the impact of social media interventions on weight and physical activity and were published between 2011 and 2021 in the English language. Studies were included if the intervention used social media tools that provided explicit interactions between the participants. Studies were excluded if the intervention was passively delivered through an app website or if the participants had a known chronic disease. Eligible studies were appraised for quality and synthesized using narrative synthesis. Results A total of 17 papers reporting 16 studies from 4 countries, with 7372 participants, were identified. Overall, 56% (9/16) of studies explored the effect of social media interventions on physical activity; 38% (6/16) of studies investigated weight reduction; and 6% (1/16) of studies assessed the effect on both physical activity and weight reduction. Evidence of the effects of social media interventions on physical activity and weight loss was mixed across the included studies. There were no standard metrics for measuring engagement with social media, and the relationship between participant engagement with the intervention and subsequent behavior change was also mixed. Although 35% (6/16) of studies reported that engagement was not a predictor of behavior change, engagement with social media interventions was found to be related to behavior change in 29% (5/16) of studies. Conclusions Despite the promise of social media interventions, evidence regarding their effectiveness is mixed. Further robust studies are needed to elucidate the components of social media interventions that lead to successful behavior change. Furthermore, the effect of engagement with social media interventions on behavior change needs to be clearly understood. Trial Registration PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022311430; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=311430

CITATION EXPORT

Wa'ed Shiyab, Elizabeth Halcomb, Kaye Rolls et al.. The Impact of Social Media Interventions on Weight Reduction and Physical Activity Improvement Among Healthy Adults: Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research. (2023). https://doi.org/10.2196/38429

AUTHORS

4 · 1 CENTRES

Wa'ed Shiyab, Elizabeth Halcomb, Kaye Rolls, Caleb Ferguson

1 School of Nursing, Faculty of Science, Medicine & Health University of Wollongong Wollongong Australia

EDITOR / REVIEWER

Rita Kukafka, Amaryllis Mavragani, Dion Candelaria, Antonio Martinko, Danielle Jake-Schoffman