Health in the Blogosphere: A review of blog use in public health research

Purpose: This study reviews published studies on the use of blogs in public health. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Academic Search Complete databases were searched using these key words in various combinations: blog*, health*, health program* and health intervention* barrier* and feature*. Searches were restricted to English and to studies published within the past five years (2006-2011). A total of 60 peer-reviewed articles were yielded from the initial 140 search records. Two researchers independently screened these and excluded 31 studies that did not specifically address any health issues. Additional 16 studies were also excluded due to their focus on blogs as instructional tools, descriptive nature, or medical emphasis. Results: A total of 13 articles on public health-related blogs were reviewed. Most used purposive and/or snowball sampling, and were retrieved from general or blog-specific search engines. The review showed that women were more likely to be health bloggers. The number of blogs reviewed in each study ranged from 50 to 951. Health topics included healthy diet, vaccination, smoking, stigma, and cancer. Only two blogs were used as interventions: one examined whether a pro-social online group (emphasizing “helping others”) increased sense of purpose and reduced distress in breast cancer survivors when compared to a standard online group. The other intervention used blogger-moderated discussions to reduce HIV stigma. Conclusion: Current published research is limited on identifying features or barriers of blog use in public health. Future research is encouraged to examine the quality of and strategies to encourage social-engagement in the health blogosphere.