Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model

Health situations across the world triggered by obesity are evidence that obesity has become a global epidemic disease. India had the third-highest number of people with obesity in the world. In this digital era, a key source of health information is social media. There are visible studies on obesit...

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Main Authors: Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj, Arulchelvan Sriram, Suganya S
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Athens Institute for Education and Research 2024-12-01
Series:Athens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.athensjournals.gr/health/2024-11-4-4-Selvaraj.pdf
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author Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj
Arulchelvan Sriram
Suganya S
author_facet Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj
Arulchelvan Sriram
Suganya S
author_sort Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj
collection DOAJ
description Health situations across the world triggered by obesity are evidence that obesity has become a global epidemic disease. India had the third-highest number of people with obesity in the world. In this digital era, a key source of health information is social media. There are visible studies on obesity awareness obtained from social media among people with obesity and women. So this study focused on urban men who are more prone to obesity than rural men and who commonly seek health information through social media. Health belief model (HBM) was adopted for the study to understand the impact of social media obesity contents in bringing health behaviour change. Sample data (N=530) were collected using a digitally circulated survey questionnaire. The study found that Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are the top three most used social media among urban men to look for health information. The study found the respondents’ attention to social media obesity contents influence their knowledge on HBM constructs which in turn influence their health behaviour change to treat obesity. Study findings suggest that well-informing posts about obesity from health experts should be shared over social media frequently to create enough obesity awareness to bring a health behaviour change.
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spelling doaj-art-ce4d80f06b394886a0befaeb7239970d2025-08-20T02:57:32ZengAthens Institute for Education and ResearchAthens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences2653-94112024-12-0111421523410.30958/ajhms.11-4-4Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj0Arulchelvan Sriram1Suganya S2Assistant Professor, Department of Film technology, SRM IST, RAMAPURAM, Chennai, IndiaProfessor, Department of Media Sciences, CEGC, Anna University Chennai, IndiaResearch Scholar, Department of Media Sciences, CEGC, Anna University Chennai, IndiaHealth situations across the world triggered by obesity are evidence that obesity has become a global epidemic disease. India had the third-highest number of people with obesity in the world. In this digital era, a key source of health information is social media. There are visible studies on obesity awareness obtained from social media among people with obesity and women. So this study focused on urban men who are more prone to obesity than rural men and who commonly seek health information through social media. Health belief model (HBM) was adopted for the study to understand the impact of social media obesity contents in bringing health behaviour change. Sample data (N=530) were collected using a digitally circulated survey questionnaire. The study found that Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are the top three most used social media among urban men to look for health information. The study found the respondents’ attention to social media obesity contents influence their knowledge on HBM constructs which in turn influence their health behaviour change to treat obesity. Study findings suggest that well-informing posts about obesity from health experts should be shared over social media frequently to create enough obesity awareness to bring a health behaviour change. https://www.athensjournals.gr/health/2024-11-4-4-Selvaraj.pdfobesitysocial mediahealth communicationhealth belief modelhealth behavioururban men
spellingShingle Shanmuga Nathan Selvaraj
Arulchelvan Sriram
Suganya S
Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
Athens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences
obesity
social media
health communication
health belief model
health behaviour
urban men
title Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
title_full Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
title_fullStr Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
title_short Impact of Obesity-Related Social Media Contents on Urban Men: Application of the Health Belief Model
title_sort impact of obesity related social media contents on urban men application of the health belief model
topic obesity
social media
health communication
health belief model
health behaviour
urban men
url https://www.athensjournals.gr/health/2024-11-4-4-Selvaraj.pdf
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AT arulchelvansriram impactofobesityrelatedsocialmediacontentsonurbanmenapplicationofthehealthbeliefmodel
AT suganyas impactofobesityrelatedsocialmediacontentsonurbanmenapplicationofthehealthbeliefmodel