Social media for recovery support for people with substance use disorder. A cross-sectional study of use patterns and motivations

Abstract

Objective

This study examined the use of social media for recovery support among individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) with past-year treatment attendance and tested whether demographic and SUD history factors were associated with use of social media for recovery support.

Method

Participants (N = 255; 45 % female, 85 % white, mean age = 41.4 [9.6]) recently treated for SUD completed an online survey. The survey gathered demographics, SUD histories, and social media use data. We report descriptive statistics and logistic regression models testing relationships between social media for recovery support and individual factors.

Results

Forty percent of participants used social media for recovery support, and most believed it beneficial. Being female increased use likelihood (OR = 2.56, 95 % CI [1.49, 4.46]), while older age (50 +) was associated with lower use likelihood than young adults (18−35) (OR = 0.35, 95 % CI [0.14, 0.84]). Social media was used primarily to build support systems and follow recovery-related content. Most found support forums on their own, and engaged with the groups for meaningful amounts of time (>weekly, >15 minutes).

Conclusions

Results highlight how common it is to use social media for recovery support. Given the sparse evidence on its efficacy, more research is urgently needed to establish whether recovery support forums on social media convey actual benefits, and how to shape one’s digital environment to maximize those benefits.