Social media in health and care co-production

The future of health and care services in the EU faces the three challenges of the aging population, fiscal restriction, and social inclusion. Co-production offers ways to manage informal care resources to enable them to better cater to the growing needs of elderly people. Social Media (SM) are seen as a critical enabler of co-production. This study investigates SM as an enabler of co-production in health and care for elderly people and develops a typology of opportunities and limitations of SM in relation to health and care. The study considers how SM acts as an enabler of co-production in health and care by facilitating its four underlying principles: equality, diversity, accessibility, and reciprocity. Normalization Process Theory (NPT) provides the theoretical framework for this qualitative study. Eighteen semi-structured interviews and observation of the activities of 10 online groups and individuals provide the data for the thematically-analysed findings. The study findings show how different SM are used to enable co-production through coordination and communication across boundaries. SM connects carers, disseminates information and engages volunteers. However, many types of SM are only rarely used in this sector due to their limitations. Nevertheless, carers of elderly patients demonstrated interest in using systems to engage people in the shaping of services, the sharing of experiences and encouraging activities. The study findings point to distinct patterns of feature use by different people involved in the care of elderly people. This diversity makes possible the principles of co-production by offering equality among users, enabling diversity of use, making experiences accessible, and encouraging reciprocity in the sharing of knowledge and mutual support. Exploitation of common resources also may lead to new forms of competition and conflicts. These conflicts require better management to enhance the coordination of the common pool of resources. The study finds that SM can facilitate co-production by offering mechanisms for coordination of the common pool of carer resources. It also enables better management of activities amongst other actors (professionals, patients, voluntary organisations, etc.). The study also demonstrates that, despite the capabilities of SM in achieving coproduction, many applications (both general and healthcare-specific) are not used to their full potential. The study also explores new innovations in this field and why they have failed to deliver their intended services

Cyberbullying: a storm in a teacup?

Cyberbullying has been portrayed as a rising ‘epidemic’ amongst children and adolescents. But does it create many new victims beyond those already bullied with traditional means (physical, relational)? Our aim was to determine whether cyberbullying creates uniquely new victims, and whether it has similar impact upon psychological and behavioral outcomes for adolescents, beyond those experienced by traditional victims. This study assessed 2745 pupils, aged 11–16, from UK secondary schools. Pupils completed an electronic survey that measured bullying involvement, self-esteem and behavioral problems. Twenty-nine percent reported being bullied but only 1% of adolescents were pure cyber-victims (i.e., not also bullied traditionally). Compared to direct or relational victims, cyber-victimization had similar negative effects on behavior (z = −0.41) and self-esteem (z = −0.22) compared to those not involved in bullying. However, those bullied by multiple means (poly-victims) had the most difficulties with behavior (z = −0.94) and lowest self-esteem (z = −0.78). Cyberbullying creates few new victims, but is mainly a new tool to harm victims already bullied by traditional means. Cyberbullying extends the reach of bullying beyond the school gate. Intervention strategies against cyberbullying may need to include approaches against traditional bullying and its root causes to be successful.Published versio

What young people want from a sexual health website: design and development of Sexunzipped.

BACKGROUND: Sexual health education in the United Kingdom is of variable quality, typically focusing on the biological aspects of sex rather than on communication, relationships, and sexual pleasure. The Internet offers a unique opportunity to provide sexual health education to young people, since they can be difficult to engage but frequently use the Internet as a health information resource. OBJECTIVES: To explore through qualitative research young people's views on what elements of a sexual health website would be appealing and engaging, and their views on the content, design, and interactive features of the Sexunzipped intervention website. METHODS: We recruited 67 young people aged 16-22 years in London, UK. We held 21 focus groups and 6 one-to-one interviews to establish sexual health priorities, views on website look and feel, and what features of a sexual heath website would attract and engage them. Two researchers facilitated the focus groups, using a semistructured topic guide to lead the discussions and asking open questions to elicit a range of views. The discussions and interviews were audio recorded and detailed notes were made on key topics from the audio recording. Young people's views influenced design templates for the content and interactive features of Sexunzipped. RESULTS: Young people particularly wanted straightforward information on sexual pleasure, sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy, how to communicate with partners, how to develop skills in giving pleasure, and emotions involved in sex and relationships. Focus group participants wanted social interaction with other young people online and wanted to see themselves reflected in some way such as through images or videos. CONCLUSIONS: While it is challenging to meet all of young people's technological and design requirements, consultation with the target audience is valuable and necessary in developing an online sexual health intervention. Young people are willing to talk about sensitive issues, enjoy the discussions, and can offer key insights that influence intervention development