My Virtual Health Bod – Supporting Materials

Evidence of the problem and track record of our engagement methods  

  1. Our Wellcome Trust funded research, defining the problem
  1. End of project report to Wellcome Trust – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kb-ujgA0s2-rnmfwxlq21i1AQqBYK02CLuC2Unni-gA/edit?usp=sharing

Goodyear et al. (2016). Social media and its impact on adolescent health and wellbeing: A scoping study of the new ethical challenges. 201601/Z/16/Z

What did you achieve with this project?

The project provides clear evidence of the ways in which adolescents both engage with and generate health-related content on social media, the impacts they report on their health-related knowledge, understanding and behaviours, and the need for relevant adults to become more digitally literate.  In contrast to existing evidence, most adolescents in this study were critically aware users and generators of health-related social media, and they reported a range of positive benefits. Yet, adolescents’ social and emotional needs change rapidly, and negative impacts escalate quickly due to the power of the digital medium.  Digitally literate adults would be better placed to promote positive outcomes, harness the educative potential of social media, and offer support at times of vulnerability. The project objectives were met: (i) data from 1346 adolescents provided new empirically rich evidence on the types of health-related information accessed from social media and the impacts they reported on health and wellbeing; (ii) a network of 35 international stakeholders (researchers, teachers, and professionals including from policy, Google, and NHS) was established and who collaborated to produce evidence-based guidelines. In addition, new participatory digital methods were created with adolescents, and these enabled adolescents to communicate their dynamic and interactive uses and experiences of social media and in a way that moved beyond adult-informed perspectives of young people and this digital medium. A new conceptual framework was constructed, informed by theories from pedagogy, anthropology and communication.  This tentative framework explains adolescents’ dynamic and interactive uses of social media and how this influences their understandings of health and wellbeing. To facilitate data communication and impact, 5 composite digital animated videos were constructed as an innovative approach to data reporting and knowledge translation.

What are the outputs of the project?

Evidence Based Guidelines and Actions for researchers, policy makers, schools/teachers and parents on adolescents’ health-related uses of social media. 5 evidence-based digital animated videos on how social media influences adolescents’ health and wellbeing. 4 Academic Peer-Review Papers:  social media and influences on adolescents’ health and wellbeing (Goodyear et al., 2018); digital animated videos and knowledge translation (forthcoming); educational support (forthcoming); digital methods (forthcoming). Research Seminar with 15 multi-disciplinary academics (May, 2017).Stakeholder workshop with 35 practitioners/professionals (May 2017). Youth Workshopwith 50 adolescents (July, 2017).Open Access Edited Book (Routledge) based on the data and an independent analysis of the data by 8 multi-disciplinary academics (Goodyear & Armour, 2018).Academic presentations: keynote at Connected PE conference (Dubai, October 2017); keynote at Sport Pedagogy conference (Germany, May 2018); symposium and paper at AERA conference (New York, April 2018, NB only 58% papers accepted); symposium at AIESEP conference (Edinburgh, July 2018); paper at the QRSE conference (Vancouver, June 2018).Policy Engagement: invited presentation at Westminster Briefing (January, 2017); meeting with DfE (February, 2017); meeting with DoH (April, 2017); meeting with APPG Fit and Healthy Childhood (February, 2018).Practitioner/Youth Engagement invited workshop delivered for Youth Sport Trust (65 young people and 20 teachers).

What are you going to do next?

The potential health-related risks of adolescents’ engagement with social media cannot be underestimated. Yet, the data from this project have provided a new direction for research focussed on better understanding adolescents’ social media use and realising more of the positive educative impacts on youth health and wellbeing. The multi-layered design of the scoping study revealed the complexity of engagement with social media, facilitated the development of new approaches to communicating the data, and indicated the need for a new conceptual framework to explain the findings. These outcomes provide a robust platform for an application for an Investigator Award in July 2018.  The new project will use ethnographic research methods that recognise young people’s agency in digital health-related spaces. The aims are (i) to document and explain the tipping points when young people switch from being critical, effective users and generators of social media to vulnerable and potentially at risk; and (ii) to understand the nature of these issues as faced by young people from a wider age range and different socio-economic contexts. Importantly, evidence from the seed award showed clear contradictions between the ways in which adults and adolescents understand social media. The new project, therefore, will work with, and seek to expand the network of stakeholders in order to design programs and interventions that can help adults to engage with the evidence and offer support to young people that is relevant, effective and can have maximum and positive impact.

2. Evidence from collaborative workshops with key stakeholders 

3. Our partners track record in successful engagement practice 

  • Innovate UK (Round Midnight & BDH Immersive) project overview – Channel 4 documentary explaining the development, use and evaluation of Virtual Decisions program based on knife/gang crime https://www.reubenandjamie.com/vr-vs-gangs  (Innovate UK report submitted online and available on request) 
  • UK Active – Active Generation Inactive 2 report that utilises PI-Goodyear and Co-I Armour’s previous Wellcome Trust funded research on social media and health. The document provides guidance on how to embrace technology and how to use social media to promote youth engagement with physical activity and their wellbeing https://www.ukactive.com/reports/generation-inactive-2/

Activities and Milestones 

As part of the initial research (funded by the Wellcome Trust) 6 themes were constructed to explain how youth engage with and use health-related social media. To facilitate communication and impact, the themes were constructed into 6 composite narrative case studies of 6 different characters: Kelly, Yaz, Leah, James, Jess and Harry. To maximise reach and engagement the narrative case studies were developed into 6 digital animated videos.

In this project the videos will be used to co-develop with youth the different decisions about health relating to social media. In the VR, the 6 characters will be the VR users’ friends and will provide different options, choices and possible outcomes for social media use and how the VR users body develops. An overview of the 6 different characters and their stories is provided in the below table.

The 6 videos can be accessed from: http://opencpd.net/Socialmedia.html#msg-box10-39

Evaluation and Dissemination Measures

  • Trends in Decision Making and Focus Groups – apps, emojis and interviews 

Trends in youth decision making will be calculated by gathering anonymous data from the VR app of what decisions youth make in the VR experience and when. For example, whether they chose to engage with/or not regulated content from the NHS or unregulated content from e.g. FitTea; whether they copy their peers; who they are influenced by; what/who they trust etc.,

Focus groups will seek to capture explanations for trends in youth decision making, as well as providing a better understanding of how youth experience the VR. Building on our prior research, youth will be asked to complete short questionnaires, that ask them to identify whether the VR effectively relates to them – see examples here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Etn5ciwhIcO1nsFHm4hxhryR_akgeVqn/view?usp=sharing

Focus groups will also involve videos engaging youth in discussion about the VR experience. Example questions include:

  • Why did you choose to make that decision? Would you make the same decision again?
  • What aspects of the VR did you engage with the most, and why?
  • What aspects of the VR did you engage with the least, and why?
  • What would you change about the VR, and why?
  • What did you learn? and how?

  • Mood Strings

Mood strings have been developed as an evaluation activity from our collaborative public engagement work with Beatfreaks, a youth activist organisation. In this project, we will use mood strings to capture how adults feel about the VR, and whether they develop an improved capacity to empathise with youth. An explanation of moods strings can be accessed from: https://www.beatfreeks.com/doink/projects/moodstrings-at-lush

Detailed Budget

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nwqlvk7BzRfREKiQGRrMgTT0sYb7bpZ9/view?usp=sharing