Facebook for Supporting a Lifestyle Intervention for People with Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia: An Exploratory Study

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Psychiatr Q
• Personal Author:
  Naslund, John A. ; Aschbrenner, Kelly A. ; Marsch, Lisa A. ; McHugo, Gregory J. ; Bartels, Stephen J.
• Description:
  Objective ; To examine whether Facebook could support a community-based group lifestyle intervention for adults with serious mental illness. ; Methods ; Participants with serious mental illness and obesity enrolled in a 6-month group lifestyle program were invited to join a secret Facebook group to support their weight loss and physical activity goals. Two peer co-facilitators moderated the Facebook group. The proportion of participants who achieved ≥5% weight loss or improved fitness was measured at follow-up. The relationship between this outcome and participants’ interactions in the Facebook group was examined. Interactions were defined as active contributions including posts, comments, or likes. Content of participants’ Facebook posts was also explored. ; Results ; Participants (n=25) had major depression (44%), bipolar disorder (36%), and schizophrenia (20%). Nineteen (76%) participants joined the Facebook group, and contributed 208 interactions (70 posts; 81 comments; 57 likes). Participants who achieved ≥5% weight loss or improved fitness contributed more interactions in the Facebook group (mean=19.1; SD=20.5) compared to participants who did not (mean=3.9; SD=6.7), though this relationship approached statistical significance (t=−2.1; Welch’s df=13.1; p=0.06). Participants’ posts containing personal sharing of successes or challenges to adopting healthy behaviors generated more interaction compared to posts containing program reminders (p<0.01), motivational messages (p<0.01), and healthy eating content (p<0.01). ; Conclusions ; Facebook appears promising for supporting health behavior change among people with serious mental illness. These findings can inform social media initiatives to scale up health promotion efforts targeting this at-risk group.
• Subjects:
  • Adult
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Comorbidity
  • Depressive Disorder, Major
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Health Promotion
  • Healthy Lifestyle
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Facebook
  • social media
  • serious mental illness
  • lifestyle intervention
  • weight loss
  • fitness
• Source:
  Psychiatr Q. 89(1):81-94
• Pubmed ID:
  28470468
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5758428
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U48DP005018/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R01 MH089811/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 DA029926/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U48 DP005018/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U48DP005018/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; R01 MH089811-01/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  89
• Issue:
  1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/50770/cdc_50770_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 338.51 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a2ea392f2256ebcc7ba514d23104b596f97c44b1605007871549703c81ad69ab