Utilizing social media to support community integration

ABSTRACT With the rising use of social media, one unexplored area of research and practice is how social media can be used to support community integration among individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Young adults with psychiatric disabilities use social media at a rate similar to age matched peers and report a desire for more complete integration into the community. Utilizing a four-dimensional model of community integration (i.e., psychological, physical, social, and independence), this article presents how social media activities can support integration. Social media activities are broken down to demonstrate how individual platforms and functions may be used to support community integration. The authors draw from a diverse set of literature, including research regarding the psychological and social benefits of social media usage among young adults, social media usage among individuals with psychiatric disabilities, and the importance of community integration for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. This article provides theoretical evidence for the use of social media as a supportive component to be included with interventions aimed at increasing community integration. Future research should examine the impact of social media usage by individuals with psychiatric disabilities on domains of community integration as well as explore the impact of interventions utilizing social media to support community integration.