Use and acceptance of social media among health educators

Social media represents 21st century Internet applications that enhance information sharing and collaboration. These tools can provide health educators with powerful ways to communicate and mobilize online communities. Confirmation of factors that contribute to use and acceptance of social media tools among health educators can provide insight into their adoption in practice. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) provided a theoretical framework for the construction of a survey which assessed performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, behavioral intention and use of social media at work and at home. The survey was administered online to Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES) randomly selected from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) database until 550 completed surveys were received. Findings revealed that health educators most commonly used social networking sites (34.8%), podcasts (23.5%), and media sharing sites (18.5%) at work for health promotion. Social influence (p<.0001) and performance expectancy (p<.0001) were both positively associated with increased behavioral intentions to use social media applications for health promotion. Reasons for lack of use included employers monitoring or blocking social media sites, difficulty of use (effort expectancy) especially among older health educators, and the belief that social media would not enhance job performance (performance expectancy). Increasing the use and acceptance of social media in health promotion practice can potentially be enhanced through supportive organizational policies regarding social media use at work, professional preparation and continuing education, and an understanding of implications for use in practice.