Effective Use of Social Media in Public Health

Dr. Kavita Batra, PhD, MPH, BDS, FRSPH, serves as an Assistant Professor and Senior Biostatistician with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. Dr. Batra began her career as a dental surgeon in India and received her master’s and doctorate degrees in public health from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. As the co-vice chair of the research seminar planning committee for the office of research and director of internal medicine resident research within the school of medicine, Dr. Batra provides statistical and research mentoring to faculty, residents, fellows, and medical students. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, maternal and child health, COVID-19, social determinants of health, vaccine hesitancy, clinical research, and evidence synthesis. Dr. Batra has published multiple peer-reviewed articles and presented her work at several state, national, and international public health conferences. She has an extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative research. Dr. Batra serves on the topical advisory panel and editorial boards of several journals, including Annals of Epidemiology, Psychiatric Case Reports, Dentistry Journal, Vaccines, and Healthcare. Dr. Batra is a President-elect to the Delta Omega-Delta Theta Chapter at UNLV, a Grad Alumni Ambassador, a key member to the Sexual Misconduct Taskforce, Nevada System of Higher Education, and a statewide secretory to the Nevada Public Health Association. Manoj Sharma, MBBS, Ph.D., MCHES® is a public health physician and educator with a medical degree from the University of Delhi and a doctorate in Preventive Medicine from The Ohio State University. He is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist certified by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing. He is currently a tenured Full Professor of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He served as the past Founding Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at UNLV. In his career, spanning over 40 years, he has trained/taught over 6,000 health professionals. He has designed and taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in health behavior, health education, and health promotion at 13 national and international universities working full-time or part-time. He has worked and provided leadership for local health departments, state health departments/agencies, federal government agencies, non-profit agencies, professional organizations, and international agencies including governments of other nations. He has been invited as a keynote presenter at several universities. He is a prolific researcher and as of March 2025 has published 17 books, over 425 peer-reviewed research articles, and over 500 other publications (h-index 60, i-10 index over 250, and over 20,000 citations) and secured funding for over $10 million. He has been awarded several prestigious honors including the American Public Health Association’s Lyndon Haviland Mentoring Award, PHEHP Distinguished Career Award, ICTHP Impact Award, J. Mayhew Derryberry Award, ATOD Lifetime Achievement Award, Cancer Forum’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award and William R. Gemma Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Public Health Alumni Society and Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Medicine at the Ohio State University among others. His research interests are in developing and evaluating theory-based (evidence-based) health behavior change interventions, obesity prevention, mental health, stress-coping, community-based participatory research/evaluation, and integrative mind-body-spirit interventions.

• ForewordRick Petosa Preface Part I: Introduction1. Social media and types with their current applications in public health and healthcareTung Sung Tseng and Gabrielle Gonzalez2. Gender and age-specific use of social mediaJody L. Vogelzang Part II: Social media use and mental health outcomes in diverse populations3. Social media and young adultsBronwyn MacFarlane and Jason Kushner4. Social media: utility versus addictionRam Lakhan, Bidhu Sharma and Manoj Sharma5. Social media use among older adults and their challengesRam Lakhan, Bidhu Sharma and Manoj Sharma6. Social media, diversity, equity, and inclusionTiffiny R. Jones and Sely-Ann Headley Johnson Part III: Social media and global exposure to research7. Ethical, privacy, and confidentiality issues in the use and application of social mediaAmar Kanekar and Joseph Otundo8. Applications of social media research in quantitative and mixed methods researchRose Marie Ward, Mai-Ly N. Steers, Akanksha Das, Shannon Speed and Rachel B. Geyer9. Applications of social media in qualitative research in diverse public health areasGeetanjali C. Achrekar and Kavita Batra10. Role of social media in research publicity and visibilitySely-Ann Headley Johnson and Tiffiny R. Jones Part IV: Social media, public health communication, and pedagogy11. Social media and policy campaignsGayle Walter12. Social media and Infodemiologyduse of social media monitoring in emergency preparednessKavita Batra, Ravi Batra and Manoj Sharma13. Social media, online learning, and its application in public healthJanea Snyder Part V: Social media in healthcare14. Application of social media in designing and implementing effective healthcare programsPriyanka Saluja, Vishakha Grover, Suraj Arora, Kavita Batra and Jashanpreet Kaur15. Role of social media in telemedicineRasika Manori Jayasinghe and Ruwan Duminda Jayasinghe Part VI: Epilogue16. Innovative uses of social media in public health and future applicationsManoj Sharma