Social media for psychological support of patients with chronic non-infectious diseases: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT

Psychological complications of chronic diseases are often underestimated because they may be interpreted as normal consequences of the underlying illness. Additionally, chronic patients may find several obstacles to healthcare access, including physical, socioeconomic, geographical and psychological barriers. Social media may be potential tools to provide psychological care extending the possibility of treatment where the offer is limited. This review aimed to explore the use of social media in administering psychological interventions to patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, Embase and PsycInfo (from 2004 to 2021). Randomized controlled trials outlining the social media use in administering psychological assistance to patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases were considered eligible. Out of 9838 records identified, 75 papers were included. Peer-to-peer interaction was the most used (n = 22), mainly via chat rooms and forums. Interventions were mostly administered to patients with psychiatric (n = 41) or oncologic disorders (n = 12). This work highlighted a lack of tailored interventions based on disease, age or gender, and a use of a limited range of relatively old platforms such as emails, blogs and forums. To administer efficient interventions, it would be advisable to continuously analyze the evolving use of these tools.

Psychological symptoms are common among patients with chronic non-infectious diseases. Seldom treated properly, they are a major reason for a low quality of life. Chronic patients, like those who suffer from oncologic, psychiatric or heart diseases, could have difficulties in finding the right psychological support. One way to potentially reach anyone is using social media, which are often used by chronic patients for educational purposes about their diseases, or for finding psychological support from others with similar conditions. We wanted to study whether social media have been used in clinical research for administering psychological support to patients with chronic diseases. We studied the existing scientific literature doing a systematic review, finding that often social media were not used at their full potential. Peer-to-peer interactions were the most common interactions, chats rooms and forums the most common social media platforms. Participants were most commonly psychiatric and oncological patients. It is very important not to overlook powerful instruments like social media they could be easily used by patients to empower themselves in managing their conditions. Social media could be an efficient way to easily provide chronic patients with psychological support either administered by health professionals, like psychotherapists, or by peers.