Social Media Influencers and Mental Health Messaging: A Scoping Review

Although health messaging by social media influencers (SMIs) may have positive effects such as promoting awareness and decreasing stigma, concerns have been raised that influencer narratives may lack comprehensive or balanced information and may evidence a disconnect with accepted clinical guidelines, especially when it comes to mental health. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the state of research on both content of and audience response to SMI mental health communication. A total of 2,746 records were retrieved from searches, among which 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies have investigated a range of influencer types, mental illnesses, and social media platforms. Research on this topic is nascent, with the majority of studies having been published in 2024 or later. Across methodologies, the focus was on mapping the existing situation, analyzing SMI personal narratives of mental illness, identifying dialectical tensions for both SMI content creators and followers, and describing ethical dilemmas of SMIs. Few studies were theoretically based, and few of the concerns raised in the previous literature regarding either problematic content or negative behavioral impacts of SMI mental health messaging were empirically investigated. Thoughtfully designed longitudinal designs of key issues of concern articulated in the previous literature, as well as testing and development of appropriate theories, are needed going forward.