Main description:

Participatory Health through Social Media explores how traditional models of healthcare can be delivered differently through social media and online games, and how these technologies are changing the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals, as well as their impact on health behavior change. The book also examines how the hospitals, public health authorities, and inspectorates are currently using social media to facilitate both information distribution and collection. Also looks into the opportunities and risks to record and analyze epidemiologically relevant data retrieved from the Internet, social media, sensor data, and other digital sources.

The book encompasses topics such as patient empowerment, gamification and social games, and the relationships between social media, health behavior change, and health communication crisis during epidemics. Additionally, the book analyzes the possibilities of big data generated through social media. Authored by IMIA Social Media working group, this book is a valuable resource for healthcare researchers and professionals, as well as clinicians interested in using new media as part of their practice or research.

Contents:

List of Contributors

About the Authors

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. An Introduction to Participatory Health Through Social Media

2. Patient Empowerment Through Social Media

3. Use of Social Media by Hospitals and Health Authorities

4. Social Media and Health Crisis Communication During Epidemics

5. Big Data For Health Through Social Media

6. Social Media and Health Behavior Change

7. Gamification and Behavioral Change: Techniques for Health Social Media

Conclusions