Presentation
How to Use Social Media to Promote Physical Activity and Health Behaviors for Individuals with Disabilities
Annual American Public Health Association Conference
(2014)
Abstract
Roughly one in five Americans has a disability. These individuals experience poorer health and are at a higher risk for developing secondary conditions than the general population. The incidence of comorbidities, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression occur in higher rates for individuals with disabilities (IWD). Physical activity (PA) has been shown to help manage these conditions by improving overall health, increasing an individuals’ ability to complete activities of daily living, which increases functional independence and improves quality of life. However, due to increased environmental and personal barriers, IWD engage in less PA than the general population. Compared to the general population IWD have less access to facilities that can accommodate their needs, may lack knowledge about PA, experience decreased social support needed to begin or maintain PA, and often have lower self-efficacy to participate in PA.
One-way to help increase IWD engagement in PA is through social media outlets. Social media campaigns have been effective tools to increase awareness, show the benefits of behavior change, and advocate for a position on health issues. Therefore, social media outlets may be a viable tool for disseminating information and promoting adapted PA behaviors for IWD. This presentation will demonstrated how to utilize various social media outlets to increase awareness of common barriers experienced by IWD, spread information about adapted PA programs, begin a dialogue about the importance of PA for IWD, adapt physical activity, and promote PA behaviors.
Keywords
- Disabilties,
- Pharmacists
Disciplines
Publication Date
November, 2014
Location
New Orleans, LA.
Citation Information
Erin A. Siebert, Jessica Hamm, Jill Pawloski and Mara Nery-Hurwit. "How to Use Social Media to Promote Physical Activity and Health Behaviors for Individuals with Disabilities" Annual American Public Health Association Conference (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/erin-siebert/8/