Qualitative Investigation of Health Information Seeking Behavior Utilizing Social Media in a College Population

Abstract

The main purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to understand undergraduate college student use of social media to seek out health information. A total of 10 interviews were conducted with undergraduate males and females in 2014. Open coding was employed and five themes were chosen as representative: social connection, social pressure, representation of self, critical consumerism, and passive engagement. All participants reported receiving health information passively, while the majority reported actively seeking health information on social media. However, issues of misrepresentation and reliability of information were explored. Social media is a feasible health promotion tool to reach college-aged individuals.