Social Media for ImpLementing Evidence (SMILE): Conceptual Framework.

Junqiang Zhao,Amanda Vandyk,Gillian Harvey,Wendy Gifford

doi:10.2196/29891

Abstract

BackgroundSocial media has become widely used by individual researchers and professional organizations to translate research evidence into health care practice. Despite its increasing popularity, few social media initiatives consider the theoretical perspectives of how social media works as a knowledge translation strategy to affect research use.ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework to understand how social media works as a knowledge translation strategy for health care providers, policy makers, and patients to inform their health care decision-making.MethodsWe developed this framework using an integrative approach that first involved reviewing 5 long-standing social media initiatives. We then drafted the initial framework using a deductive approach by referring to 5 theories on social media studies and knowledge translation. A total of 58 empirical studies on factors that influenced the use of social media and its messages and strategies for promoting the use of research evidence via social media were further integrated to substantiate and fine-tune our initial framework. Through an iterative process, we developed the Social Media for ImpLementing Evidence (SMILE) framework.ResultsThe SMILE framework has six key constructs: developers, messages and delivery strategies, recipients, context, triggers, and outcomes. For social media to effectively enable recipients to use research evidence in their decision-making, the framework proposes that social media content developers respond to target recipients’ needs and context and develop relevant messages and appropriate delivery strategies. The recipients’ use of social media messages is influenced by the virtual–technical, individual, organizational, and system contexts and can be activated by three types of triggers: sparks, facilitators, and signals.ConclusionsThe SMILE framework maps the factors that are hypothesized to influence the use of social media messages by recipients and offers a heuristic device for social media content developers to create interventions for promoting the use of evidence in health care decision-making. Empirical studies are now needed to test the propositions of this framework.

Highlights

Social Media Use in Health Care Social media has been extensively used worldwide to communicate health-related information
The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework to understand how social media works as a knowledge translation strategy for health care providers, policy makers, and patients to inform their health care decision-making
The Social Media for ImpLementing Evidence (SMILE) framework provides a preliminary understanding of how social media can be used as a knowledge translation strategy to inform health care practices and decision-making

Summary

Introduction

Social Media Use in Health Care Social media has been extensively used worldwide to communicate health-related information. A social media initiative called It Doesn’t Have to Hurt, led by health care researchers in Canada, developed a short YouTube video on evidence-based strategies, such as distraction and using topical anesthetics for reducing procedural pain in children. Their video received 237,132 unique views from 182 countries 5 years after its launch, with patients and health care providers reporting strong acceptance and high intention to use the strategies [10]. Few social media initiatives consider the theoretical perspectives of how social media works as a knowledge translation strategy to affect research use

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion