“The Facebook Treatment:” Boston’s Latest Patient Engagement Study

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“Time to check Facebook, it’s good for your health.” Most of us have never heard these words uttered by a physician–and if we did, confusing looks would likely ensue. But in the heart of Boston, Partners HealthCare is showing us that social media–specifically, the ever-popular Facebook–may positively impact young adults with health issues.

At Partners HealthCare in Boston, preliminary results of a study involving asthmatic teenagers found significant improvement in engagement and symptom control when patients received reminders and encouragement from both clinicians and researchers via Facebook. Dr. Joseph Kvedar, Vice President of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, presented these early stage findings at the mHealth + Telehealth World Conference in Boston this week and stated that a peer-reviewed publication for this study is in the works.

The Study

Partners Connected Health (formerly known as the Center for Connected Health) joined forces with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Pulmonology to create a private Facebook group for pediatric asthma patients ages 14-17. Partners provided the private group, only viewable by invited users, with access to a password-protected website where study participants could take the Asthma Control Test (ACT), a survey measuring asthma control.

Clinicians and academic researchers sent monthly reminders–with links to the ACT–along with educational information to each study participant via Facebook. The alerts were displayed just like any other Facebook reminder, making them salient and easy to access. After a 12-month period, Partners Connected Health achieved a 79% engagement rate with approximately 125 teen participants in the Facebook group–compared to an average engagement rate of around 18% with the ACT alone.

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SOURCE: MedCityNews

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