Social Media in Pacific Communities: A Scoping Review Exploring Benefits, Challenges and Opportunities for Healthcare

Despite the potential use of social media for health promotion and education among Pacific communities, there is a lack of understanding regarding how it is used and how interventions can best utilize it. This scoping review aims to explore how social media is used for health purposes within Pacific communities and the potential benefits, challenges and opportunities.

This review followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) extension for scoping reviews. Databases and grey literature sources were searched for health-related primary research studies that focused on Pacific communities and included social media. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the included studies and create codes that reflected the text.

A total of 37 studies were included, with most mentioning social media as a key finding (35%), while others approached social media as a recruitment strategy (30%), research topic (22%), intervention tool (14%) or recommendation for use in future approaches (11%). The benefits of social media mentioned in health-related studies for Pacific people include access to health information and services and providing a safe and familiar space. Challenges and risks included misinformation, lack of digital literacy, a disconnect with Pacific cultural norms and the negative impacts of prolonged time on social media.

Our findings highlight the potential of culturally grounded social media approaches for health promotion among Pacific communities. To support health promotion in the modern world, there are clear opportunities for developing digital literacy, preserving cultural knowledge, identifying trusted voices to disseminate health knowledge and ensuring social media approaches are evaluated for impact and effectiveness.