JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The prevalence of mental health problems is increasing, particularly among young people, making the prevention of mental health problems and improvements in care a public health priority. Social media, with its wide reach and low-cost information dissemination, has emerged as an important tool for public mental health campaigns. However, there is limited understanding of the reach of public mental health social media campaigns and their impact on mental health knowledge, attitudes, stigma and behaviors, such as help-seeking.

Objective:

This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of social media campaigns in improving knowledge and attitudes towards mental health, reducing stigma, promoting help-seeking behavior, and reaching underserved communities.

Methods:

A scoping review was conducted, involving a comprehensive search of five databases and grey literature from January 2004-May 2024. We included quantitative evaluations of social media public mental health campaigns from high-income countries with comparable social media use and public healthcare systems. A narrative synthesis summarised the study characteristics, campaign exposure, reach and effectiveness by outcomes.

Results:

The review included 26 articles for analysis. Less than half of the articles (11/26, 42%) reported on the reach of mental health campaigns, but for those that did, younger age groups and females were more likely to be aware of campaigns. The most frequently reported outcomes were attitudes about mental health (17/23, 74%) and stigma (17/23, 74%), followed by mental health knowledge (16/23, 70%) and behavior change (15/23, 65%), such as seeking help for a mental health condition. While stigma and attitudes showed the most improvement pre and post campaigns (5/11, 45%), behavior change showed the least positive change over time (1/8, 13%). However, behavior change was the most improved outcome for those who were campaign aware compared to unaware (12/12, 100%), whereas positive attitudes often did not differ. In fact, some articles showed campaign awareness was associated with negative stereotypes.

Conclusions:

The evidence highlights the potential of social media campaigns in improving mental health knowledge, attitudes, stigma and behavior change. However, due to the methodological limitations of these evaluations, it is challenging to determine if the positive changes in these outcomes are a result of the campaigns or other factors. Campaign awareness seems to be important for initiating behavior change, but these changes are often short-lived. Sustainable impact on mental health requires both individual behavior change and service improvements. Targeting more mental health campaigns at underserved groups could help to reduce stigma and raise awareness in these groups, which could lead to timelier access of services. Consistent measurement of campaign reach and behavior change outcomes could help to understand and maximise campaign impact.