The influence of opinion leaders on social networks: a study about eating behavior change on Instagram

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Are you ready for the challenge? Social Media Health Challenges for Behaviour Change

Publication . Saboia, Inga; Almeida, Ana Margarida Pisco; Sousa, Pedro; Pernencar, Cláudia

Challenges are one of the most common strategies used by Opinion Leaders on Social Media to engage users. They are often found in different areas; in the Health field, the use of challenges is growing, namely through initiatives aiming at eating behaviour change. Instagram is considered to be one of the most used Social Media applications to develop these initiatives, allowing Opinion Leaders to communicate and engage with their online followers. Despite this scenario, little is known regarding how Health Challenges are being used and what is their impact on behaviour change. Previous research has already shown how Opinion Leaders use Instagram to promote eating behaviour change. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, describe and discuss Social Media Health Challenges, aiming to analyse Instagram challenges on healthy eating. The study was organized in two phases: the first one is a literature review based on Prisma method that supported the conceptualisation of SocialMedia Challenges and the design for the second phase where Social Media Health Challenges of Opinion Leaders, such as Nutritionists, Health Lifestylers and Patient Opinion Leaders (POLS) were analysed. Results showed that most of the challenges are promoted by Patient Opinion Leaders and Health Lifestylers. Followers adhere to Social Media Health Challenges related to weight loss, engaging with Opinion Leaders. The psychological-cognitive components (such as habits, motivation, and self-control) were found in the analysed challenges, and Instagram is one of the used tools to promote these Initiatives. These results point to new paths regarding future research on other behaviour change online initiatives.

2020-07-28Journal article

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Dietitians and Nutritionists Behaviour on Social Media: A Scoping Literature Review

Publication . Saboia, Inga; Almeida, Ana Margarida Pisco; Sousa, Pedro; Pernencar, C.

At its present state, Social Media (SM) is an important stage to promote user participation, acting as an open space for the discussion of a multitude of fields, one of which being health. Professionals, like Registered Nutritionists and Dietitians (RNDs), whose access to media was traditionally more restricted, are also more engaged in this new context, creating a new scenario. To better understand how is this group of professionals using social media to communicate with their audiences is the main objective of this study. To approach this topic, a mapping was conducted, followed by a presentation of the summary of the evidence discovered: RDNs demographic and professional profile; their most used social media tools; the reasons why they use social media; their common behaviours and attitudes, as well as a review of the gaps and shortcomings in the literature. A literature review, using a structured approach was also conducted. 2877 works were screened, but only 8 were associated with answers. Of these 8, there were 2 studies that partially presented a quantitative analysis. Results show lacks in consolidated studies that can be used to support the creation of knowledge in this field. This lead to conclude that research about social media usage by nutritionist, at present, remains in a nascent stage and requires further studies.

2020Conference object

Open access