Effectiveness of Social Media Interventions to Improve Nutrition Behaviour among Adolescents in Asia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Aims: The purpose of this review is to evaluate the social media intervention’s efficacy, as well as the intervention’s theory, model, and framework. Design: Systematic review. Data sources: Five databases- PubMed, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Science Direct and Google Scholar were searched systematically from June 18 to July 12, 2022. Methods: Predefined keywords of “social media”, “nutrition”, “behaviour” and “adolescents” were used. The inclusion criteria: (1) 10 to 24 years old participants; (2) social media or website as intervention platform; (3) intervention outcomes related to improvement in nutrition behaviour, anthropometric measures, knowledge and awareness; (4) is a randomized controlled trial, non-randomized controlled trial, cluster controlled, cohort, case control or before and after study design; (5) published in 2000 until 2022; (6) written or translated is English; and (7) conducted in Asia. Results: Review eligibility included nine studies. Three research were web- or website-based, while the other six used social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and LINE. Post-intervention outcomes showed significant gains, however some studies found no differences between the intervention and control groups. Conclusion: Social media is a widely accepted platform for educating adolescents about nutrition for behaviour change. However, the evidence shows that the interventions are lack of significant improvement between groups and the used of digital or technological-related theory, model and framework. This review demonstrated the progress of healthy behaviours in nutrition and health literacy among adolescents that can be spread through social network and the value of new technological techniques in managing the targeted population.