Click like to change your behavior: A mixed methods study of college students' exposure to and engagement with facebook content designed for weight loss

Journal of Medical Internet Research

Volumn 16, Issue 6, 2014, Pages

  Merchant, Gina ^a   Weibel, Nadir ^b   Patrick, Kevin ^a   Fowler, James H ^c   Norman, Greg J ^a   Gupta, Anjali ^d   Servetas, Christina ^d   Calfas, Karen ^a   Raste, Ketaki ^d   Pina, Laura ^b   Donohue, Mike ^a   Griswold, William G ^b   Marshall, Simon ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^c Department of Neurology   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Behavior; Obesity; Overweight; Social behavior; Social networking; Students

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; CONTROLLED STUDY; FEMALE; HEALTH PROMOTION; HUMAN; MALE; OBESITY; OVERWEIGHT; PROCEDURES; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL; SOCIAL MEDIA; SOCIAL NETWORK; STUDENT; TELEMEDICINE; WEIGHT REDUCTION; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; FEMALE; HEALTH PROMOTION; HUMANS; MALE; OBESITY; OVERWEIGHT; SOCIAL MEDIA; SOCIAL NETWORKING; STUDENTS; TELEMEDICINE; WEIGHT LOSS; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84906243631     PISSN: None     EISSN: 14388871     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2196/jmir.3267     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. American College Health Association. American College Health Association National College Health Assessment Spring 2006 Reference Group data report (abridged). J Am Coll Health 2007 Feb;55(4):195-206. [doi: 10.3200/JACH.55.4. 195-206] [Medline: 17319325]
2. Vella-Zarb RA, Elgar FJ. The 'freshman 5': a meta-Analysis of weight gain in the freshman year of college. J Am Coll Health 2009 Oct;58(2):161-166. [doi: 10.1080/07448480903221392] [Medline: 19892653]
3. Gropper SS, Simmons KP, Connell LJ, Ulrich PV. Weight and Body Composition Changes during the First Three Years of College. J Obes 2012;2012:634048 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1155/2012/634048] [Medline: 23050127]
4. Malhotra R, Ostbye T, Riley CM, Finkelstein EA. Young adult weight trajectories through midlife by body mass category. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2013 Sep;21(9):1923-1934. [doi: 10.1002/oby.20318] [Medline: 23408493]
5. Steinberger J, Moran A, Hong CP, Jacobs DR, Sinaiko AR. Adiposity in childhood predicts obesity and insulin resistance in young adulthood. J Pediatr 2001 Apr;138(4):469-473. [doi: 10.1067/mpd.2001.112658] [Medline: 11295707]
6. Breton ER, Fuemmeler BF, Abroms LC. Weight loss-There is an app for that! But does it adhere to evidence-informed practices? Transl Behav Med 2011 Dec;1(4):523-529 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1007/s13142-011-0076-5] [Medline: 24073074]
7. Cooper JN, Buchanich JM, Youk A, Brooks MM, Barinas-Mitchell E, Conroy MB, et al. Reductions in arterial stiffness with weight loss in overweight and obese young adults: potential mechanisms. Atherosclerosis 2012 Aug;223(2):485-490 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2012.05.022] [Medline: 22703865]
8. Dangardt F, Chen Y, Berggren K, Osika W, Friberg P. Increased rate of arterial stiffening with obesity in adolescents: a five-year follow-up study. PLoS One 2013;8(2):e57454 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057454] [Medline: 23451232]
9. Herva A, Laitinen J, Miettunen J, Veijola J, Karvonen JT, Läksy K, et al. Obesity and depression: results from the longitudinal Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study. Int J Obes (Lond) 2006 Mar;30(3):520-527. [doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803174] [Medline: 16302014]
10. Carr D, Jaffe K. The psychological consequences of weight change trajectories: evidence from quantitative and qualitative data. Econ Hum Biol 2012 Dec;10(4):419-430 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.04.007] [Medline: 22580044]
11. Ames GE, Perri MG, Fox LD, Fallon EA, De Braganza N, Murawski ME, et al. Changing weight-loss expectations: a randomized pilot study. Eat Behav 2005 Jun;6(3):259-269. [doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2005.01.003] [Medline: 15854872]
12. Donnelly JE, Hill JO, Jacobsen DJ, Potteiger J, Sullivan DK, Johnson SL, et al. Effects of a 16-month randomized controlled exercise trial on body weight and composition in young, overweight men and women: the Midwest Exercise Trial. Arch Intern Med 2003 Jun 9;163(11):1343-1350. [doi: 10.1001/archinte.163.11. 1343] [Medline: 12796071]
13. Ahern DK, Kreslake JM, Phalen JM. What is eHealth (6): perspectives on the evolution of eHealth research. J Med Internet Res 2006;8(1):e4 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.8.1.e4] [Medline: 16585029]
14. Free C, Phillips G, Felix L, Galli L, Patel V, Edwards P. The effectiveness of M-health technologies for improving health and health services: a systematic review protocol. BMC Res Notes 2010;3:250 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-3-250] [Medline: 20925916]
15. Gow RW, Trace SE, Mazzeo SE. Preventing weight gain in first year college students: an online intervention to prevent the "freshman fifteen". Eat Behav 2010 Jan;11(1):33-39 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2009.08. 005] [Medline: 19962118]
16. Brenner J. Pew Internet: Mobile. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2013 May. URL: http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/ February/Pew-Internet-Mobile.aspx [accessed 2014-01-20] [WebCite Cache ID 6Mm8smnp9]
17. Smith A, Rainie L, Zickuhr K. College students and technology. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2011 Jul 19. URL: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/College-students-And-technology/Report.aspx [accessed 2014-01-20] [WebCite Cache ID 6Mm9lf2eI]
18. Duggan M, Brenner J. The demographics of social media users. 2013 Feb 14. URL: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/Social-Networking- Site-Users/Demo-portrait.aspx [accessed 2014-01-20] [WebCite Cache ID 6Mm9pmVxU]
19. Hampton K, Goulet L, Rainie L, Purcell K. Social networking sites and our lives. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2011 Jun 16. URL: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-And-social-networks/Part-2/ Facebook-Activities.aspx [accessed 2014-01-20] [WebCite Cache ID 6Mm9tyw35]
20. Loss J, Lindacher V, Curbach J. Online social networking sites-A novel setting for health promotion? Health Place 2014 Mar;26:161-170. [doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2013.12.012] [Medline: 24457613]
21. Kelders SM, Kok RN, Ossebaard HC, Van Gemert-Pijnen JE. Persuasive system design does matter: a systematic review of adherence to web-based interventions. J Med Internet Res 2012;14(6):e152 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.2104] [Medline: 23151820]
22. Wilson RE, Gosling SD, Graham LT. A review of Facebook research in the social sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science 2012 May 16;7(3):203-220. [doi: 10.1177/1745691612442904]
23. Hwang KO, Ottenbacher AJ, Green AP, Cannon-Diehl MR, Richardson O, Bernstam EV, et al. Social support in an Internet weight loss community. Int J Med Inform 2010 Jan;79(1):5-13 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2009. 10.003] [Medline: 19945338]
24. Lampinen AS, Tamminen S, Oulasvirta A. All my people right here, right now: Management of group co-presence on a social networking site. 2009 Presented at: ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work; May 10-13, 2009; Sanibel Island,FL p. 281-290. [doi: 10.1145/1531674.1531717]
25. Newman MW, Lauterbach D, Munson SA, Resnick P, Morris ME. It's not that I don't have problems, I'm just not putting them on Facebook: Challenges and opportunities in using online social networks for health. 2011 Presented at: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work; March 9-23, 2011; Hangzhou, China p. 341-350. [doi: 10.1145/1958824.1958876]
26. Rafaeli S, Ravid G, Soroka V. De-lurking in virtual communities: A social communication network approach to measuring the effects of social and cultural capital. 2004 Presented at: Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences; January 5-8, 2004; Hawaii p. 5-8. [doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2004.1265478]
27. Ballantine PW, Stephenson RJ. Help me, I'm fat! Social support in online weight loss networks. J. Consumer Behav 2011 Dec 23;10(6):332-337. [doi: 10.1002/cb.374]
28. Brouwer W, Kroeze W, Crutzen R, de Nooijer J, de Vries NK, Brug J, et al. Which intervention characteristics are related to more exposure to internet-delivered healthy lifestyle promotion interventions? A systematic review. J Med Internet Res 2011;13(1):e2 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1639] [Medline: 21212045]
29. Turner-McGrievy GM, Tate DF. Weight loss social support in 140 characters or less: use of an online social network in a remotely delivered weight loss intervention. Transl Behav Med 2013 Sep;3(3):287-294 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1007/s13142-012-0183-y] [Medline: 24073180]
30. Michie S, Abraham C, Whittington C, McAteer J, Gupta S. Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: a meta-regression. Health Psychol 2009 Nov;28(6):690-701. [doi: 10.1037/a0016136] [Medline: 19916637]
31. Cugelman B, Thelwall M, Dawes P. Online interventions for social marketing health behavior change campaigns: a meta-Analysis of psychological architectures and adherence factors. J Med Internet Res 2011;13(1):e17 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1367] [Medline: 21320854]
32. Fukuoka Y, Kamitani E, Bonnet K, Lindgren T. Real-time social support through a mobile virtual community to improve healthy behavior in overweight and sedentary adults: a focus group analysis. J Med Internet Res 2011;13(3):e49 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1770] [Medline: 21752785]
33. Bond RM, Fariss CJ, Jones JJ, Kramer AD, Marlow C, Settle JE, et al. A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization. Nature 2012 Sep 13;489(7415):295-298. [doi: 10.1038/nature11421] [Medline: 22972300]
34. Cobb NK, Graham AL. Health behavior interventions in the age of facebook. Am J Prev Med 2012 Nov;43(5):571-572. [doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.08.001] [Medline: 23079184]
35. Abraham C, Michie S. A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychol 2008 May;27(3):379-387. [doi: 10.1037/0278-6133. 27.3.379] [Medline: 18624603]
36. Michie S, Ashford S, Sniehotta FF, Dombrowski SU, Bishop A, French DP. A refined taxonomy of behaviour change techniques to help people change their physical activity and healthy eating behaviours: the CALO-RE taxonomy. Psychol Health 2011 Nov;26(11):1479-1498. [doi: 10.1080/08870446.2010.540664] [Medline: 21678185]
37. Aronson ID, Marsch LA, Acosta MC. Using findings in multimedia learning to inform technology-based behavioral health interventions. Transl Behav Med 2013 Sep;3(3):234-243 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1007/s13142-012-0137-4] [Medline: 24073174]
38. Hekler EB, Klasnja P, Froehlich JE, Buman MP. Mind the theoretical gap: Interpreting, using, and developing behavioral theory in HCI research. 2103 Presented at: CHI '13 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; April 27-May 2, 2013; Paris, France. [doi: 10.1145/2470654.2466452]
39. Webb TL, Joseph J, Yardley L, Michie S. Using the internet to promote health behavior change: a systematic review and meta-Analysis of the impact of theoretical basis, use of behavior change techniques, and mode of delivery on efficacy. J Med Internet Res 2010;12(1):e4 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1376] [Medline: 20164043]
40. Cowan LT, Van Wagenen SA, Brown BA, Hedin RJ, Seino-Stephan Y, Hall PC, et al. Apps of steel: are exercise apps providing consumers with realistic expectations?: a content analysis of exercise apps for presence of behavior change theory. Health Educ Behav 2013 Apr;40(2):133-139. [doi: 10.1177/1090198112452126] [Medline: 22991048]
41. Carver CS, Scheier MF. Control theory: a useful conceptual framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychol Bull 1982 Jul;92(1):111-135. [Medline: 7134324]
42. Cavallo DN, Tate DF, Ries AV, Brown JD, DeVellis RF, Ammerman AS. A social media-based physical activity intervention: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med 2012 Nov;43(5):527-532. [doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.07.019] [Medline: 23079176]
43. Napolitano MA, Hayes S, Bennett GG, Ives AK, Foster GD. Using Facebook and text messaging to deliver a weight loss program to college students. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2013 Jan;21(1):25-31. [doi: 10.1002/oby.20232] [Medline: 23505165]
44. Pedrana A, Hellard M, Gold J, Ata N, Chang S, Howard S, et al. Queer as Fk: reaching and engaging gay men in sexual health promotion through social networking sites. J Med Internet Res 2013;15(2):e25 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.2334] [Medline: 23391459]
45. Valle CG, Tate DF, Mayer DK, Allicock M, Cai J. A randomized trial of a Facebook-based physical activity intervention for young adult cancer survivors. J Cancer Surviv 2013 Sep;7(3):355-368. [doi: 10.1007/s11764-013-0279-5] [Medline: 23532799]
46. Couper MP, Alexander GL, Zhang N, Little RJ, Maddy N, Nowak MA, et al. Engagement and retention: measuring breadth and depth of participant use of an online intervention. J Med Internet Res 2010;12(4):e52 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1430] [Medline: 21087922]
47. Patrick K, Marshall SJ, Davila EP, Kolodziejczyk JK, Fowler JH, Calfas KJ, et al. Design and implementation of a randomized controlled social and mobile weight loss trial for young adults (project SMART). Contemp Clin Trials 2014 Jan;37(1):10-18. [doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2013.11.001] [Medline: 24215774]
48. Bronfenbrenner U. The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1979.
49. Sallis JF, Cervero RB, Ascher W, Henderson KA, Kraft MK, Kerr J. An ecological approach to creating active living communities. Annu Rev Public Health 2006;27:297-322. [doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.27.021405.102100] [Medline: 16533119]
50. Fishbein M, Ajzen I. Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: an Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub Co; 1975.
51. Bandura A. Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: WH Freeman; 1997.
52. Skinner BF. About Behaviorism. New York: Vintage Books; 1974.
53. Festinger L. A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations 1954 May 01;7(2):117-140. [doi: 10.1177/001872675400700202]
54. Berkman LF. Social support, social networks, social cohesion and health. Soc Work Health Care 2000;31(2):3-14. [doi: 10.1300/J010v31n02-02] [Medline: 11081851]
55. Webb TL, Sheeran P. Mechanisms of implementation intention effects: the role of goal intentions, self-efficacy, and accessibility of plan components. Br J Soc Psychol 2008 Sep;47(Pt 3):373-395. [doi: 10.1348/014466607X267010]
56. Rhodes RE, Dickau L. Experimental evidence for the intention-behavior relationship in the physical activity domain: a meta-Analysis. Health Psychol 2012 Nov;31(6):724-727. [doi: 10.1037/a0027290] [Medline: 22390739]
57. Danaher BG, Seeley JR. Methodological issues in research on web-based behavioral interventions. Ann Behav Med 2009 Aug;38(1):28-39. [doi: 10.1007/s12160-009-9129-0] [Medline: 19806416]
58. Fogg B. A behavior model for persuasive design. 2009 Presented at: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology; April 26-29, 2009; Claremont, CA.
59. Lacroix J, Saini P, Goris A. Understanding user cognitions to guide the tailoring of persuasive technology-based physical activity interventions. 2009 Presented at: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology; April 26-29, 2009; Claremont, CA.
60. Glaser BG, Strauss AL. The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine Pub Co; 2012.
61. Hwang KO, Ottenbacher AJ, Lucke JF, Etchegaray JM, Graham AL, Thomas EJ, et al. Measuring social support for weight loss in an internet weight loss community. J Health Commun 2011 Feb;16(2):198-211. [doi: 10.1080/10810730.2010. 535106] [Medline: 21181600]
62. Eysenbach G. The law of attrition. J Med Internet Res 2005;7(1):e11 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.7.1.e11] [Medline: 15829473]
63. Christensen H, Mackinnon A. The law of attrition revisited. J Med Internet Res 2006;8(3):e20; author reply e21 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.8.3.e20] [Medline: 17032636]
64. Gold J, Pedrana AE, Stoove MA, Chang S, Howard S, Asselin J, et al. Developing health promotion interventions on social networking sites: recommendations from The FaceSpace Project. J Med Internet Res 2012;14(1):e30 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.1875] [Medline: 22374589]
65. Koroleva K, Stimac V, Krasnova H, Kunze D. I like it because I'm like you - measuring user attitudes toward information on Facebook. 2011 Presented at: International Conference on Information Systems Proceedings; 2011; Shanghai, China.
66. Burke M, Kraut R, Marlow C. Social capital on Facebook: Differentiating uses and users. 2011 Presented at: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; May 7-12, 2011; Vancouver, BC p. 571-580. [doi: 10.1145/1978942.1979023]
67. Smock AD, Ellison NB, Lampe C, Wohn DY. Facebook as a toolkit: A uses and gratification approach to unbundling feature use. Computers in Human Behavior 2011 Nov;27(6):2322-2329. [doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.07.011]
68. Riley WT, Rivera DE, Atienza AA, Nilsen W, Allison SM, Mermelstein R. Health behavior models in the age of mobile interventions: are our theories up to the task? Transl Behav Med 2011 Mar;1(1):53-71 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1007/s13142-011-0021-7] [Medline: 21796270]
69. Ritterband LM, Thorndike FP, Cox DJ, Kovatchev BP, Gonder-Frederick LA. A behavior change model for internet interventions. Ann Behav Med 2009 Aug;38(1):18-27 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1007/s12160-009-9133-4] [Medline: 19802647]
70. Leahey TM, Wing RR. A randomized controlled pilot study testing three types of health coaches for obesity treatment: Professional, peer, and mentor. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2013 May;21(5):928-934 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1038/oby.2012.179] [Medline: 23784896]
71. Carson TL, Eddings KE, Krukowski RA, Love SJ, Harvey-Berino JR, West DS. Examining social influence on participation and outcomes among a network of behavioral weight-loss intervention enrollees. J Obes 2013;2013:480630 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1155/2013/480630] [Medline: 23840944]
72. Salvy SJ, de la Haye K, Bowker JC, Hermans RC. Influence of peers and friends on children's and adolescents' eating and activity behaviors. Physiol Behav 2012 Jun 6;106(3):369-378 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2012. 03.022] [Medline: 22480733]
73. Danaher BG, Boles SM, Akers L, Gordon JS, Severson HH. Defining participant exposure measures in Web-based health behavior change programs. J Med Internet Res 2006;8(3):e15 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.2196/jmir.8.3.e15] [Medline: 16954125]
74. Rainie L, Smith A, Duggan M. Coming and Going on Facebook. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project; 2013 Feb 05. URL: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Coming-And-going-on-facebook.aspx [accessed 2014-01-20] [WebCite Cache ID 6MmAL5jeB]
75. Woerendl M, Papagiannidis S, Bourlakis M, Li F. Internet-induced marketing techniques: Critical factors in viral marketing campaigns. Int J Bus Sci Appl Mgmt 2008;3(1):33-45.