Technology Experience, Health Beliefs or Background? Examining the Factors Affecting the Intention to Use Social Media for Health Purposes

Studies in health-related social media use tend to predict its actual use. However, the academic knowledge on the future intention to such use is scarce. In addition, studies in this field are mostly qualitative, thereby restricting the possibility to provide generalized view of health-related social media use. The goal of this study is to examine the factors associated with health-related social media use by technological, health-related and sociodemographic factors, while employing multivariate (ordinal) statistical models. The results suggest that engagement is searching for health information on social media and cues to action are associated with the outcome variable. As one of the conclusions, the study emphasizes the importance of future quantitative or mixed methods research in the field.