title: The impact of health education transmitted via social media or text messaging on adolescent and young adult risky sexual behavior: a systematic review of the literature.
abstract: Despite the increased use of social media and text messaging among adolescents, it is unclear how effective education transmitted via these mechanisms is for reducing sexual risk behavior. Accordingly, we conducted a systematic review of the literature to examine the effectiveness of social media and text messaging interventions designed to increase sexually transmitted disease (STD) knowledge, increase screening/testing, decrease risky sexual behaviors, and reduce the incidence of STDs among young adults aged 15 through 24 years. Eleven studies met our inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies used a control group to explore intervention effects and included both young men and women. Sample sizes ranged from 32 to 7606 participants, and follow-up periods ranged between 4 weeks and 12 months. These studies provide preliminary evidence indicating that social media and text messaging can increase knowledge regarding the prevention of STDs. These interventions may also affect behavior, such as screening/testing for STDs, sexual risk behaviors, and STD acquisition, but the evidence for effect is weak. Many of these studies had several limitations that future research should address, including a reliance on self-reported data, small sample sizes, poor retention, low generalizability, and low analytic rigor. Additional research is needed to determine the most effective and engaging approaches for young men and women.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Health Systems Sciences, University of Illinois College of Nursing at Chicago, Urbana Regional Campus, Urbana, IL; †Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL; Department of Health Systems Sciences, University of Illinois College of Nursing at Chicago, Peoria Regional Campus, Peoria, IL; and §Department of Women, Children and Family Health Sciences, Chicago College of Nursing, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Krista
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eathington
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sipsma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D061108:Social Media; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D060145:Text Messaging; D055815:Young Adult