Background

In 2016 an estimated 1.9 billion adults world-wide were either overweight or obese. The health consequences of obesity are responsible for 2.8 million preventable deaths per year. The WHO now considers obesity as a global epidemic and recommends population-wide health promotion strategies to address this issue. Weight gain is caused by increased energy intake and physical inactivity, so treatment should focus on changes to behaviour regarding diet and physical activity.

Discussion

The WHO has also recognised the importance of social resources as a valuable agent for behaviour change in health promotion. Social resources are translated at the community level as support provided by significant others such as family, partners and peers, in the form of information, material aid and encouragement. Social support has been shown to improve health and well-being, whereas social isolation has been shown to have a negative impact on health outcomes. Social support provided by peers has been shown to be a useful strategy to employ in weight management programmes. The documented increased use of ICT and social media has presented health promoters with a potentially useful medium to increase social support for weight management.

Conclusion

While the use of social media for health promotion is an emerging field of investigation, preliminary research suggests that it increases participant engagement, and may provide a cost-effective tool to provide social support for individuals participating in weight management programmes. With stringent privacy protocols in place, social media may be a useful, cost-effective accompaniment to multifactorial weight management programmes. However more research is needed to identify how to make the best use of social media as health promotion tool.

Introduction

The aim of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of using social media to augment the delivery of, and provide support for, a weight management program delivered to overweight and obese individuals during a twenty four week intervention.

Methods

Participants randomly divided into either one of two intervention groups or a control group. The two intervention groups were instructed to follow identical weight-management program. One group received the program within a Facebook group, along with a support network with the group, and the other intervention group received the same program in a booklet. The control group was given standard care. Participants' weight and other metabolic syndrome risk factors were measured at baseline and at weeks 6, 12, 18 and 24.

Results

The Facebook Group reported a 4.8% reduction in initial weight, significant compared to the CG only (p = 0.01), as well as numerically greater improvements in body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass, lean mass, and energy intake compared to the Pamphlet Group and the Control Group.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate the potential of social media to assist overweight and obese individuals with respect to dietary and physical activity modifications for weight management, and justify further research into the inclusion of social media in clinical weight management programs. It is anticipated that social media will provide an invaluable resource for health professionals, as a low maintenance vehicle for communicating with patients, as well as a source of social support and information sharing for individuals undergoing lifestyle modifications.