Supporting adolescents to think critically about health advice on social media

A project using a human-centred design approach to develop a digital resource to help young people make good health choices throughout their digital life.

Background
Misinformation was added to the list of global health risks in 2022. Young people are bombarded with health information daily from parents, teachers, friends, and social media. Information about what they can do to improve or maintain their health is often unreliable and conflicting. Critical thinking skills are necessary to navigate a media landscape full of health claims. The Informed Health Choices project developed a list of key concepts for making informed decisions about one’s health. They are the basis for educational resources which have been evaluated in randomized trials and found to have a positive effect on students’ ability to think critically about health claims. However, we are unsure how we might design resources that can impact young people in the same age group outside of a school setting and without the guidance of a teacher.

Objective and aims
The objective of this project was to develop a digital resource for Ung.no that would provide young people (13-15) with tips on how to think critically about health advice in social media.

Methods
We used a human-centred design approach to develop a resource for young people. We established a panel of seven 13-15 year olds at the start of the project. We used qualitative data collection and analysis methods to explore current practices, beliefs, experiences, preferences and values of the youth panel and other key stakeholders. We carried out multiple cycles of idea generation and prototype development to create a digital resource for Ung.no. Feedback from the youth panel as well as other young people unfamiliar with the project, informed all aspects of prototype development.

Results
The result of the project is a web page on Ung.no that includes a video and text explaining some important red flags when making a choice regarding health advice on social media. Key insights from the work include: young people don’t necessarily identify lifestyle content as health-related and prefer video format, and; producing a digital resource for young people requires new forms of collaboration.

Implications
There is a need to rethink how researchers communicate with young people. Using a human-centred design approach and engaging meaningfully with young people involves working for an extended time under a high degree of uncertainty about what will be created. This can be counterintuitive to a research approach, and requires knowledge and confidence in design thinking methods, an ability to relinquish control, and courage. The final resource can be used independently or together with school health services or other relevant curriculum (e.g., ‘Folkehelse og livmestring’) to support critical thinking among young people and help them make good choices about health advice on social media.