Trust in Social Media Images of Health, 2023

The data collection consists of transcripts contain conversation about sensitive experiences and health issues, including reflections on body size and weight, restrictive eating, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-harm, suicide, mental illness, pregnancy loss, infertility, sexuality and homophobia.

This collection contains 30 transcripts of social media elicitation interviews conducted with young adult social media users. The interviews were semi-structured, covering topics related to participants' everyday use of social media as well as their encounters with wellbeing and health related content on social media specifically. We were open to participants’ own interpretations of what counted as a social media platform and as everyday health and well-being content, meaning that participants defined this in a way that was most relevant to their own lived experience. Interviews therefore referred to a wide variety of health topics that were of personal or general interest to the participant, including (but not limited to) nutrition and diet, skincare, fitness, mental health, sexual health, specific illnesses, public health messaging (Covid-19), vaccination and medical science. The main social media platforms that participants talked about and engaged with in the interview setting were Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, although others were mentioned. Participants often showed the interviewer examples of content on their personal phones, and the interviewer would take photographs of phone screens during the interview. The photographs taken have not been included in the archive for reasons of participant confidentiality.

The collection contains the project's Interview Guide, Consent Form and Information Letter, as approved by The Departmental Research Ethics Committee for the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (ID: C1A-23-09).