Using Social Media to Disseminate Behavior Change Interventions: Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews

Compared with implementation, the conceptual frameworks, strategies, and outcomes of efforts to disseminate behavioral interventions are less developed. We conducted a scoping review of the systematic reviews of social media strategies to disseminate behavior change interventions. We focused on the common themes in the methodology and evaluation frameworks of social media-based dissemination strategies.

This scoping review aims to identify common themes in the design, delivery, and impact assessment of social media-based dissemination strategies for behavior change interventions.

We searched the Epistemonikos database (until 2024) to retrieve systematic reviews on social media dissemination. A total of 2 independent reviewers screened the abstracts and full texts. We extracted and classified the data on the characteristics of the included reviews and outcome assessments. We followed the reflexive thematic analysis steps to identify the main themes of the ingredients of the social media dissemination strategies.

We screened 613 records based on the title and abstract, followed by the assessment of 100 full texts of potentially eligible reviews. The 43 included reviews assessed a median of 20 empirical studies (IQ range 21). The study designs, intervention strategies, and evaluation measures of social media dissemination interventions were diverse. We classified the main themes of the ingredients of social media dissemination strategies into 4 main categories: 1-way spread (aiming for spread and diffusion, with little or no effort to develop 2-way communications or engage target users in conversation and feedback; n=37), invoking conversations (facilitating and enhancing the 1-way spread using conversational and community features of social media to promote dialogue among users or between the users and experts; n=21), peer motivation (facilitate sharing individual behavior on social media to receive confirmation, feedback, and support, to further personalize the dissemination; n=11), and miscellaneous (eg, dissemination through online multiplayer games; n=3). The main outcomes of dissemination efforts were reach and engagement (n=12), user perception of their knowledge, intention to change the behavior, feasibility and acceptability of the intervention (n=24), and impact on health and health-related behaviors (n=43). The majority of theoretical frameworks that were identified by the reviews were individual and social behavior change models (including the theory of planned behavior and Social Cognitive Theories). A smaller number of reviews also identified social and contextual models (eg, Social Network Theory), dissemination and implementation frameworks (eg, Diffusion of Innovation), and social marketing and action models (eg, community mobilization and Reader-to-Leader framework).

Researchers use various features of social media (eg, peer-to-peer sharing, online engagement in conversations, one-on-one, or with a broad audience), formation of clusters and communities, and peer feedback to complement and enhance the 1-way dissemination. Further research is needed to inform the theoretical underpinnings and the interventional ingredients of social media dissemination strategies.