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Effective use of social media platforms
for promotion of mental health
awareness
K. Latha, K. S. Meena, M. R. Pravitha, Madhuporna Dasgupta, S. K. Chaturvedi
Website:
www.jehp.net
Abstract:
DOI:
10.4103/jehp.jehp_90_20 BACKGROUND: Social media platforms are progressively developing as a rich source of mass
communication. Increasing mental health awareness with the help of social media can be a good
initiative to reach out to a large number of people in a short time frame. This study was conducted
to understand the usefulness of social media platforms for health promotion.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a qualitative study to evaluate the effectiveness of social
media platforms in hosting health promotion campaigns in the field of mental health, which was
observed over 5 months from May to September 2019 to reach more people for effective information
dissemination. The campaigns were as follows (1) The Buddies for Suicide Prevention: an online
campaign to create awareness about suicide prevention. The campaign included script writing,
slogan writing, poster making, and short films making, organized for the general public who were
interested to take part; (2) The #Iquitobacco was a 21‑day campaign with an idea of tobacco cessation
in the community, conducted among social media viewers who were willing to participate; and (3)
#Migrainethepainfultruth was yet another campaign conducted among the social media viewers who
were interested to participate. All the campaigns were conducted using two famous social media
platforms commonly used by young adults. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and proportions
were computed for the number of likes and shares.
RESULTS: The Facebook and Instagram posts concerning all the campaigns brought about a
considerable amount of reach to the targeted population. After the campaigns, the page reached to
around 10.3 k people (both fans and nonfans).
CONCLUSIONS: Use of social media to conduct mental health campaigns is an effective initiative
as one can reach out to several people over a short time period. There is an increasing trend in the
awareness of mental health with the effective use of digital media as a platform for disseminating
information.
Keywords:
Department of Mental Health promotion, mental health, social media
Health Education, National
Institute of Mental Health
and Neuro Sciences, Introduction contributes to the huge burden of mental
Bengaluru, Karnataka, morbidity. More than 80% of people with

M
India ental health is important in every phase mental illness had not received treatment
of life, from childhood to adulthood. As despite the presence of illness for more than
Address for
correspondence: it is usual for everyone to go through various 12 months.[2]
Dr. K. Latha, milestones and turmoil, mental health is
Department of Mental important to stay stable and balanced.[1] Mental health literacy is the knowledge and
Health Education, understanding concerning mental health
Ground Floor, Dr. M V
Govindaswamy Centre,
Mental health is the fifth greatest contributor disorders, which helps in recognition,
National Institute of to the global burden of diseases. Stigma management, and prevention. People have
Mental Health and Neuro much confusion regarding mental health
Sciences, Bengaluru, This is an open access journal, and articles are information, which causes hindrances in
Karnataka, India. distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
E‑mail: latha12k@gmail. Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License, which
com allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work How to cite this article: Latha K, Meena KS,
non‑commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and Pravitha MR, Dasgupta M, Chaturvedi SK. Effective
Received: 26‑01‑2020
the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. use of social media platforms for promotion of mental
Accepted: 02‑03‑2020
health awareness. J Edu Health Promot 2020;9:124.
Published: 28-05-2020 For reprints contact: [email protected]

© 2020 Journal of Education and Health Promotion | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 1
Latha, et al.: Social media platforms for promotion of mental health

mental health awareness. Mental health awareness provide relaxation. They can play a valuable role in
programs encourage help‑seeking behaviors. Mental certain campaigns which aim behavioral change. [11]
health interventions which provide supportive Because social media platforms play a major role in
interactions help foster well‑being among people.[3] mental health promotion, this study was planned to
understand the usefulness of these platforms to host
One of the various alternatives to address mental health mental health campaigns.
stigma is through mental health awareness campaigns.
Awareness positively impacts mental health outcomes. Materials and Methods
Mental health awareness can bring a positive view
of mental health among people. Conventional media It was a qualitative study to evaluate the effectiveness of
including newspapers have access to evidence‑based social media platform in hosting three health promotion
data from reliable sources and are the cornerstones to campaigns in the field of mental health, which was
spread mental health awareness. Government programs observed over five months from May to September
such as national and district mental health programs 2019 to reach more people for effective information
are on their way to becoming the vehicle for delivering dissemination. The campaigns were as follows (1) The
mental health as a part of integrated primary care at the Buddies for Suicide Prevention, an online campaign
cutting edge of the public health‑care system.[4] to create awareness about suicide prevention. The
campaign included script writing, slogan writing,
Social media is a predominant element where human poster making, and short films making, organized for
beings are involved.[5] It is a space to connect people the general public who were interested to take part;
with common interests. Social networking sites such (2) The #Iquitobacco was a 21‑day campaign with an
as Facebook offer opportunities to understand public idea of tobacco cessation in the community conducted
awareness and provide information access regarding among our social media viewers who were willing to
mental health. [6] More than 2.1 billion people use participate; and (3) #Migrainethepainfultruth was yet
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger every another campaign conducted among the social media
day on an average.[7] viewers interested to participate. All the campaigns were
conducted using two famous social media platforms
With the continuous expansion of technology and other commonly used by young adults. Descriptive statistics
factors influencing social media, it is emerging as a such as frequency and proportions were computed for
powerful tool in spreading awareness and education the number of likes and shares. This study was approved
of various socially relevant concepts and conducting by the institutional ethics committee (no. NIMHANS/
activities, online courses, and classes more effectively EC [BEH. SC. DIV.]/16 MEETING/2018).
than the face‑to‑face direct communication. Websites such
as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, collectively termed #Iquittobacco – 21‑day tobacco cessation campaign
social media, facilitate many‑to‑many communication This campaign was launched on the eve of the World No
instead of the traditional personal one‑to‑one Tobacco day 2019. It began by asking the stakeholders a
communication and one‑to‑many communication. question on what would they like to do to raise awareness
Social media, over 10 years, have actively worked as a about the harmful effects of tobacco and to support
catalyst in changing the dynamics of communication and anyone trying to quit. And later, a cooperative effort
work culture. A radical shift came with the acceptance from the stakeholders was encouraged for the same
and wider usage of social media with the origin of and continued as a follow‑up challenge for 21 days. The
Facebook in 2004. International data suggest that 83% campaign asked the stakeholders to follow the 21‑day
of 18‑29‑year‑old people use social networking sites.[8] challenge if they wish to quit tobacco and lead a healthy
life. Each day, a different task was published, therefore,
Assuring provision for promoting a mentally healthy it had 21 different tasks over the 21 days. Meanwhile, we
lifestyle and understanding mental health is necessary, also collected the feedback from the participants about
and social media could be a cost‑effective alternative to how they felt about the tasks and how they complete
deliver mental health awareness.[9] certain tasks. The tasks included in the campaign were
listing the reasons why one want to quit smoking, fix
To understand the information needs of various a quit date, finding a hobby, learning a new skill, talk
segments of the population, effective health promotion to someone close to you about your achievements,
messages need to be developed using communication and reward yourself. The 21‑day challenge posts were
channels, and social media could be exploited for the published on the highlights session of the Instagram page.
same.[10] Social networking enables people to connect At the end of the challenge, a video on the importance of
more, so more health information could be exchanged. smoking cessation was released, which had a message to
Surfing through social media platforms reinforce and the public on the harmful effects of smoking.

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Latha, et al.: Social media platforms for promotion of mental health

Buddies for Suicide Prevention campaign and shared the same to others to be a part of
The “Buddies for Suicide Prevention,” an online contest, the campaign. The viewers were encouraged to follow
was conducted for 4 months from June to September the campaign by posting certain initial questions and
2019 on the theme “Action for suicide prevention.” posts to generate curiosity and seek their attention. All
The campaign was promoted through Instagram and these campaigns catered the needs of 200–2000 people.
Facebook. It included four categories of competitions These campaigns were liked by 200 people, of whom 9
namely Post‑it: poster‑making competition, Inscribe people shared the posts and 20 people visited the profile
2.0: slogan‑writing competition, Script O: script‑writing page of mental health education. During the previous
competition, and Minutes matter: short film contest. This year, the number of followers was 2000; after addition of
online contest was intended to engage the public to join these three campaigns, it crossed 3000. The campaigns’
hands for working toward suicide prevention. reach showed a progressively increasing trend over the
years. The #Iquittobacco campaign was a great challenge
#Migrainethepainfultruth which reached more than 200 people and received more
The campaign #Migrainethepainfultruth was an online than a hundred impressions. The campaign Buddy
campaign launched on Instagram and Facebook on for Suicide Prevention was an attempt to encourage
the eve of the World Brain Day in July 2019 with the people to participate in the competition, which, in turn,
theme on migraine. It was an interactive campaign with bring about awareness on the importance of suicide
an initial quiz session on the symptoms of migraine, prevention into the limelight. The post earned 32 likes
followed by a poll where the viewers were asked to give and 9 people shared the same and reached 2058 people.
their opinion as yes or no about some migraine myths The #Migrainethepainfultruth campaign engaged the
and misconceptions. Each day, a myth was posted, and viewers for more than 1 week, reached more than 120
the related facts were shared on the next day. The poll people, and received more than 150 impressions.
results were shared every day. On the last day, all the
mysteries were broken, and the posts were shared on Usage of different modes of intervention through
creating awareness about migraine attack, its stages, online campaigns
symptoms, and management. A video developed by All the online campaigns had used different modes of
various resource persons on spreading awareness intervention. According to the objectives of the campaigns,
about migraine was posted in the end. This campaign different communication strategies were adopted. The
#Migrainethepainfultruth was a cooperative effort to first campaign #Iquittobacco was an online challenge
break the stigma around migraine. where the viewers were asked to take up a challenge,
wherein they could take up an initiative to quit tobacco
Results by actively engaging in certain activities. As the campaign
aimed at addressing a public health concern that is
Given below is an analysis of the effectiveness of the eradicating something deadly from the society, it needed a
above‑stated three online campaigns on three various lot of effort. It reached more than 200 people and received
realms of mental health education. It also says how it more than a hundred impressions. The Buddy for Suicide
influenced the public in promoting their mental health. Prevention campaign was an online competition which
The results are discussed under three headings which engaged the creative young minds. The online competition
include (1) The potential of utilizing social media for was successful, reaching more than 2000 people. Mostly,
effective mental health promotion, (2) usage of different participants were young adults and received around 25
modes of intervention through online campaigns; and total entries under various categories of contests. The
(3) the comparison between the different social media participants were enthusiastic to work toward the theme
platforms for their effectiveness. “Action for suicide prevention.” Through this, the mental
health education page reached out to a large number of
The potential of utilizing social media for effective young people to raise awareness of suicide prevention in
mental health promotion the society. The #Migrainethepainfultruth was an online
The three campaigns focused on various public health campaign purely focused on eradicating the stigma
concerns, which were launched and promoted through toward migraine. The campaign reached more than 100
the prominent social media platforms. The campaigns people, and around 6 people shared the posts. Among
were an attempt to utilize social media effectively to the three campaigns, the “Buddy for Suicide Prevention”
reach out to more people, therefore eradicating stigma created the highest impact among the public followed by
and educating people. the #Iquittobacco campaign.

Here, the social media pages, Facebook and Instagram, The comparison between the different social
kept engaged through three different campaigns for media platforms for their effectiveness
5 months where people have positively reacted to the The Facebook page of mental health education was
Journal of Education and Health Promotion | Volume 9 | May 2020 3
Latha, et al.: Social media platforms for promotion of mental health

started in January 2016 and the Instagram page on engagement and support in low‑resource settings.
September 2017, intending to promote the health and Other advantages include low cost, high scalability,
well‑being of individuals and communities in the area of self‑tracking, and tailored feedback functionalities.
mental health and neurological sciences. The Facebook Social media connects people from long distances,
page of “Mental Health education” has 3285 followers. even people from rural areas, and makes mental health
A total of 3205 people like the page. The Instagram page promotion feasible.[16] Social media campaigns are more
has 516 followers. However, the user friendliness of the cost‑effective compared to mass media campaigns.[11]
Facebook page of Mental Health Education helped to
reach more people. Most followers of both Facebook and Adolescents say that social media is advantageous to
Instagram pages belong to the 25–34 years’ age group. learn the issues that may affect their mental health.
The maximum followers of both the Instagram and Social media publishes thought‑provoking material
Facebook pages are females, around 71% for Instagram which influences adolescents to search for information
and 62% for Facebook. The Facebook page also has on positive health behavior. [17] The World Lung
international followers from the UK and the USA. On Foundation launched a social media campaign to
the whole, the Mental Health Education Facebook page make a measurable change to tobacco control policies
is performing better than the Instagram page. in low‑ and middle‑income countries. As part of this
study, they promoted the participants to do personalized
Discussion cigarette pack warning using their digital photograph on
Facebook.[11] During a multidisease campaign, a public
Social media is emerging as a powerful tool with the health campaign was conducted for HIV testing in rural
continuous expansion of technology and other factors, in Uganda which could not reach people of younger age
spreading awareness and education of various socially assures that every public health campaign cannot reach
relevant concepts. Mental health can be promoted every unit of the population.[18]
through campaigns on social media. As the social media
platforms are available 24 h of a day and 7 days of a Challenges in utilizing social media for health
week, the content will always be available for the users promotion
whenever they want. According to social modeling, Even though social media provides services, it has
an individual’s behavior and actions are affected by drawbacks also. Social media campaigns cannot be the
others’ actions. Hence, the social media post sparks an sole solution for changing behaviors. Hence, promoting
interest in someone who follows his/her close one’s mental health is challenging in social media pages. Older
activities.[12] According to a study conducted in 2011, adults and adolescents manage social media maturely.
22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media However, the concern is regarding younger adolescents’
site more than ten times a day and more than half of the social media usage.
adolescents log on to the social media sites more than
once a day, and most of this generation’s emotional and People’s behavioral change achieved through mental
social development is happening in the Internet and health promotion remains unnoticed for a long time
cellphones. The social media platforms are providing as the result is intangible; this could be one important
them a variety of benefits such as socialization and challenge of mental health promotion on social media.[19]
communication, enhanced learning opportunities, and
accessing health information.[13] People with the common The other challenge is the authenticity of data published
interest will create a particular group, and their friends in social media pages.[7] Studies suggest that worldwide
are likely to join the group or page where the positive mental health promotion needs are to be coordinated
health behavior is promoted.[7] and should be using an active platform to deliver
knowledge. As many unverified and mystical data are
A study focused on adolescents’ and young adults’ use being published in the web pages, the viewers are misled.
of social media for health, and its implications say that Moreover, the readers have no filter to screen the data
one‑quarter of the participants believe that social media source’s credibility. To confirm data credibility, accurate
can provide them with useful information. Moreover, appropriate evaluation methods are to be developed.[16]
people with self‑perceived poor health are more likely to
share health information online.[14] Social media provides The other area of concern in using social media is that
teens a place to learn, practice, and rehearse the skills of the information shared on social media is visible and
self‑representation and self‑disclosure.[15] available to anybody interested in it. This may make
the respondents vulnerable and people may lose their
Advantages of social media in mental health privacy.[20] The other barriers such as illiteracy can also
promotion cause hindrance in access to the proper data at the correct
Social media platforms help to avail better social time.[7]

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Latha, et al.: Social media platforms for promotion of mental health

Promoting mental health with a clear goal is important health awareness by effectively using digital media as
keeping in mind that a lot of campaign promotional an information dissemination platform.
strategies are available in social media. Certain
communication strategies work differently for different Acknowledgment
demographic groups. Hence, to have a target population We would like to acknowledge the social media viewers
is significant before planning a mental health campaign. and followers for their participation and support. We
Making the campaign interactive will promote it better.[5] thank Dr. Pratima Murthy, Professor and HOD of the
Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, for the video
As social media technologies are developed recently, on cessation of smoking. We thank all the staff from the
their evaluation methods are in the early stages of Centre for Addiction Medicine for their contributions.
development. Health organizations should inevitably We thank all the interns of the Department of Mental
incorporate social media into their communication Health Education who were part of these campaigns. We
strategies to reach people from different age groups and thank the faculty from the Department of Neurology and
backgrounds.[7] Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, for the awareness
video on stroke.
A well‑known limitation of the social media campaign is
the lesser commitment and efforts needed to be part of a Financial support and sponsorship
campaign. There is no direct relation between the shares, Nil.
likes, and engagement shown in the social media pages
with the actual behavioral change. The social media Conflicts of interest
campaigns require a strong theoretical base for effective There are no conflicts of interest.
focus and outcome.[11]
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