Prajesh Narendra Chhanabhai*, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Alec Holt, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand George Benwall, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Track: Research Presentation Topic: The nature and dynamics of social networks in health Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: LKSC Conference Center Stanford Room: Lower Lobby Date: 2011-09-17 12:30 PM – 01:30 PM Last modified: 2011-08-12

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Background
There is an exponential growth in technological media which is having a global impact on how individuals are connecting and communicating. In particular, the role of text messaging via mobile phones and the use of social network sites as a medium is changing the way people share information. Social network sites allow for a greater opportunity to gather information from weak relationships and strengthening strong relationships. The disadvantage is the proliferation of information that may have questionable sources. There are concerns around the privacy and security regarding use, storage and transfer of information via these networks. The mobile social network medium is an active study area for researchers in health information sharing. It is beginning to affect traditional health systems and was the basis of this study.
The use of these mediums to share health information was investigated, focusing on the Generation Y cohort as early adopters and prevalent users of new technology. This study sought to investigate how this group utilizes mobile and social networks to share health information.
Methods
A survey tool was used to collect data about a cohort’s health information sharing behavior. Questions were used to determine if there was any difference in the way these media were used to share health information with family and friends.
Results
A total of 1,747 responses were received. The results were analyzed using a number of statistical models and tests to determine if there was any correlation between the use of these media on the level and frequency of sharing health information on these media. The statistical tests used showed that there is a positive correlation between the use of these media and the sharing of health information across these media.
Conclusions
The importance of knowing the results of this health sharing behavior across these media for both academics and health practitioners is that they can further try to understand why this media is being used to share health information. This can then be used to understand what changes need to be made to the technology in order to allow continued growth of usage of these media for health information sharing. It is also important to ensure that health care providers are aware that there is a shift in the methods of communication and embrace this in their development of future healthcare plans. This study found that health information is being shared across these media between various groups of people and at different frequencies. Text messaging as a means of sharing health information should be looked at as being a very real and practical communication tool when dealing with non urgent medical conditions. However, there is still a concern about using social network sites to share health information; they are being used as a means of crowd sourcing for opinions.
This study has shown that users of mobile and social network sites do utilize them to share health information, and as such developers of these media need to consider this in future development plans, and healthcare providers need to understand how the role of the patient is constantly changing as they begin to share health information with text messages and social network sites.