Adapting Facebook-Style Features for Disease Prevention in Clinical Care.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Primary Care Innovation

Background:

• Bridging the gap between social media engagement and clinical care presents challenges.
• Existing health apps often adapt social media features, but platform risks are a concern.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a minimal viable intervention for Canadian primary care.
• To adapt social media features aligned with Self-Determination Theory (SDT) for patient engagement.
• To address risks associated with social media platforms in a clinical context.

Main Methods:

• Developed a design incorporating autonomy (feeds), competence (timelines), and relatedness (groups).
• Integrated a predictive service for identifying patients at risk for diabetes.
• Consulted 13 stakeholders to refine the design and establish acceptance criteria.

Main Results:

• The design supports user autonomy, competence, and relatedness through adapted social media features.
• A predictive service can identify at-risk patients for preventive care.
• Stakeholder consultations validated the design, addressing privacy, misinformation, and ethics.

Conclusions:

• The proposed intervention offers a novel approach to integrating social media principles into primary care.
• The design prioritizes patient engagement and clinical relevance while mitigating platform risks.
• Next steps include architecture finalization and a feasibility pilot for this Canadian primary care intervention.