Primary Submission Category: Methodological approaches to studying public health
SocialsVoice: A New Youth Participatory Action Research Protocol for the Study of Social Media and Mental Health
Authors: Melissa DuPont-Reyes, Alice Villatoro, Victoria Mello, Lu Tang,
Presenting Author: Melissa DuPont-Reyes*
Background: Studies show a youth mental health crisis coinciding with increased social media (SM) use. To support community-engaged research about the relationship between SM and mental health, we designed the SocialsVoice protocol that adapts the participatory method Photovoice. The proposed presentation will discuss how SocialsVoice used a randomized design to examine how youth engage with mental health content in SM. Method: Youth ages 13-24 and their parents were recruited nationally from community-based Latino organizations. Youth/parents were invited to complete an eligibility contact form for researchers to provide study information, consent/assent forms, and virtual focus groups to
participants. After introductory sessions with youth/parents, youth were randomly assigned to collect SM clips that depict mental health positive or negative content. In subsequent sessions 2-4, youth defined and discussed their thematic SM clips. In session 5, youth groups co-created a video about their findings to present to all parents in session 6 (culmination). Reflection sessions 7 with youth and parents concluded the study. Pre-posttests were sent to youth and parents pre-randomization and after sessions to explore participatory effects on: SM use behaviors; mental health symptoms; stigma, self-perceptions and help-seeking; and other related factors. Results: The study enrolled 49 youth and 35 parents; of these, N=42 youth and N=30 parents attended session 1 (86%). Youth were then randomized: N=18 in the negative and N=21 in the positive theme attended a session 2-4 (80%). Results will include attendance of sessions 5-7 to occur in mid-March 2025 and process outcomes. Conclusion: SocialsVoice uses partnered research with families to co-create a SM database about mental health of real-world relevance. This study design goes beyond simple measures of time spent on SM to better understand how youth engage with mental health content in SM to inform pragmatic policy for the safety and utility of SM.