UNDERSTANDING HOW TO BEST UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENCOURAGE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS

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dc.contributor.advisorKeliʻikoa, L. Brooke
dc.contributor.authorSantilena, Katharine
dc.contributor.departmentPublic Health
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-02T23:42:37Z
dc.date.available2024-07-02T23:42:37Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.degreePh.D.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108399
dc.subjectPublic health
dc.subjectadolescents
dc.subjectphysical activity
dc.subjectphysical activity promotion
dc.subjectsocial media
dc.titleUNDERSTANDING HOW TO BEST UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENCOURAGE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS
dc.typeThesis
dcterms.abstractIn the state of Hawaiʻi, 15% of high school-aged students are considered to have obesity. The increase in sedentary lifestyles and lack of physical activity contributes to obesity prevalence among adolescents. Nationally, over three quarters of adolescents do not meet the federally recommended amount of an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. While not meeting recommendations for physical activity, adolescents in the US spend on average 3 hours on social media each day. In fact, 98% of adolescents in the US access social media on a smart device, making social media a ready avenue to promote physical activity. Social media is increasingly being used within health promotion marketing strategies to enhance community outreach and encourage healthy behaviors such as increasing physical activity. However, creating physical activity-focused social media content that resonates with adolescents and young adults remains a challenge. Despite the user-friendly components of social media, no widespread best practices have been created to advise health organization content creators who aim to target the adolescent and young adult population. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how to best utilize social media to promote physical activity among young people. This dissertation research consisted of 3 studies, which were guided by McGuire’s Communication Persuasion Model. Study 1 was a systematic review of studies addressing adolescent and young adults' physical activity levels with a social media intervention. The analysis found that studies that used social media saw significant results when it came to participants’ physical activity levels in comparison to a control group or from baseline. Study 2 explored the social media content preferences of adolescents affiliated with the YMCA of Honolulu. The interviews found the following themes to make content more desirable for adolescents: 1) include more adolescents (13-17) within the visual of the post, 2) create comedic content intended to make the audience laugh, 3) use sports content displaying sports that adolescents also participate in such as basketball and volleyball, 4) prefer social media content that follows current trends, and 5) acknowledge that adolescents use social media as a means of information and staying connected with family and friends. Study 3 examined the relationship between the content themes from Study 2 with audience engagement of the YMCA of Honolulu’s Instagram within a four-year sample. ANOVA statistical analyses were run to examine if the themes contributed to the audience engagement (likes and comments) of the posts. The three themes that saw significant associations included adolescents within the visuals of the post, posting sports content, and creating content that reaches out to the community, suggesting if used within the Instagram posts there is a better chance of the audience engaging with the posts. As adolescent overweight and obesity continue to be a health issue within the Hawaiʻi adolescent population, it is important to explore innovative avenues of health promotion such as social media to promote and encourage physical activity. Findings suggest that these efforts must be done in collaboration with health organizations' target audiences and communities. However, continued work is needed to explore and identify resonating content that adolescents and other communities can relate to. By incorporating newer promotion materials such as social media, health organizations can continue to reach their audiences in more modern and effective ways.
dcterms.extent100 pages
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.typeText
local.identifier.alturihttp://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:12052

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Ph.D - Public Health