JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Social media are a powerful means of communication, mainly used for an exchange of information and for entertainment. The main parts of skin health preventive measures are promoting skincare, skin protection, control routines and motivating and engaging social media users to propagate them.

Objective:

The aim of the review was to collect and assess studies concerning social media impact on skincare and skin health preventive measures.

Methods:

In accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, the following scientific databases were searched: SCOPUS, Web of Science, Pubmed, Academic Search Ultimate (via EBSCO), Academic Research Source eJournals (via EBSCO), ERIC (via EBSCO), Health Source – Consumer Edition (via EBSCO), Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (via EBSCO). Using ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, OpenGrey, Grey Literature Report and Mednar, the search was supplemented with grey literature. Social media articles on skin care, skin health, skin diseases, skin protection and educational activities promoting healthy skin were selected for the review. The quality of the articles was assessed, and a narrative synthesis of the works was conducted.

Results:

Altogether 1558 works were considered, of which 23 were qualified, with three studies on acne and 20 on skin cancer, sunscreen and tanning. Social media interventions were dealt with in 15 studies. The review made it possible to investigate cognitive and cognitive-behavioral interventions.

Conclusions:

Despite its heterogeneity, the present review outlined the impact of social media on users’ skin health behaviors, attitudes and actions. It identified strategies for digital interventions to promote skin health. Practice implications: In health sciences, a standardized tool is needed to assess the quality of social media digital interventions. Standardization would be helpful both to design new digital interventions and to evaluate existing ones. Limitations: The review has several limitations: only articles written in English were considered; ongoing studies were omitted; there was a small number of interventional studies on acne and a lack of research on daily skincare, education, and anti-aging activities presented on social media. Another limitation, resulting from too broad an assumption, was a failure to perform quantitative data analysis, which resulted in the heterogeneity of studies qualified for the review.