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. Dr. 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 (Public Health) 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 and Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the School of Public Health and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UNLV Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. In his career, spanning over 35 years, he has trained/taught over 6,000 health professionals including physicians, health education specialists, dietitians, community health nurses, health care administrators, epidemiologists, sanitarians, health and development workers, allied health professionals, and others. 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 (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Jackson State University, University of Cincinnati, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Central Michigan University, Walden University, National University, The Ohio State University, Saint Mary's College of Minnesota and Minnesota State University, Mankato). He has worked for local health departments (City of Columbus, OH; Douglas County Health Department, NE; City of Cincinnati Health Department, OH etc.); state health departments/agencies (OH, MS, NE, Ohio Commission on Minority Health, etc.); federal government agencies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- CDC, National Institutes of Health - NIH, United States Environmental Protection Agency – USEPA, etc.); invited keynote presenter at universities (Chongqing Medical University, China; Lincoln Memorial University; University of Arkansas; University of Oklahoma); non-profit agencies (American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Charles Drew Health Center, Indian Chicano Health Center, Voluntary Health Association of India, etc.); professional organizations (American Public Health Association, American School Health Association); and international agencies including governments of other nations (European Union, World Health Organization, Swiss Development Corporation, Government of Mongolia, Government of India, Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau (Italy), etc.). He is a prolific researcher and as of June 2024 had published 15 books, over 400 peer-reviewed research articles, and over 500 other publications and secured funding for over $10 million (h-index 54, i-10 index around 250, and over 16,000 citations). He is ranked in the top one percentile of global scientists from 176 subfields by Elsevier. He has been awarded several prestigious honors including several American Public Health Association awards (Lyndon Haviland Public Health Mentoring Award, ICTHP Impact Award; J. Mayhew Derryberry Award; Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Section Lifetime Achievement Award; Cancer Forum’s Public Health Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award); The Ohio State University awards (William Oxley Thompson Early Career Award; William R. Gemma Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Public Health Alumni Society; Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Medicine); University of Nevada, Las Vegas Awards (Harry Reid Silver State Award, Outstanding Graduate Faculty Leadership Award, Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award, Community Engagement Community-Based Research Faculty Award) among many others. His research interests are in global health, developing and evaluating theory-based health behavior change interventions, obesity prevention, stress-coping, community-based participatory research, and integrative mind-body-spirit interventions.

Foreword Rick Petosa Preface Part I: Introduction 1. Social media and types with their current applications in public health and healthcare Tung Sung Tseng and Gabrielle Gonzalez 2. Gender and age-specific use of social media Jody L. Vogelzang Part II: Social media use and mental health outcomes in diverse populations 3. Social media and young adults Bronwyn MacFarlane and Jason Kushner 4. Social media: utility versus addiction Ram Lakhan, Bidhu Sharma and Manoj Sharma 5. Social media use among older adults and their challenges Ram Lakhan, Bidhu Sharma and Manoj Sharma 6. Social media, diversity, equity, and inclusion Tiffiny R. Jones and Sely-Ann Headley Johnson Part III: Social media and global exposure to research 7. Ethical, privacy, and confidentiality issues in the use and application of social media Amar Kanekar and Joseph Otundo 8. Applications of social media research in quantitative and mixed methods research Rose Marie Ward, Mai-Ly N. Steers, Akanksha Das, Shannon Speed and Rachel B. Geyer 9. Applications of social media in qualitative research in diverse public health areas Geetanjali C. Achrekar and Kavita Batra 10. Role of social media in research publicity and visibility Sely-Ann Headley Johnson and Tiffiny R. Jones Part IV: Social media, public health communication, and pedagogy 11. Social media and policy campaigns Gayle Walter 12. Social media and Infodemiologyduse of social media monitoring in emergency preparedness Kavita Batra, Ravi Batra and Manoj Sharma 13. Social media, online learning, and its application in public health Janea Snyder Part V: Social media in healthcare 14. Application of social media in designing and implementing effective healthcare programs Priyanka Saluja, Vishakha Grover, Suraj Arora, Kavita Batra and Jashanpreet Kaur 15. Role of social media in telemedicine Rasika Manori Jayasinghe and Ruwan Duminda Jayasinghe Part VI: Epilogue 16. Innovative uses of social media in public health and future applications Manoj Sharma