What methods are used to examine representation of mental ill-health on social media? A systematic review

There has been an increasing number of papers which explore the representation of mental health on social media using various social media platforms and methodologies. It is timely to review methodologies employed in this growing body of research in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This systematic literature review provides a comprehensive overview and evaluation of the methods used to investigate the representation of mental ill-health on social media, shedding light on the current state of this field. Seven databases were searched with keywords related to social media, mental health, and aspects of representation (e.g., trivialisation or stigma). Of the 36 studies which met inclusion criteria, the most frequently selected social media platforms for data collection were Twitter (n = 22, 61.1%), Sina Weibo (n = 5, 13.9%) and YouTube (n = 4, 11.1%). The vast majority of studies analysed social media data using manual content analysis (n = 24, 66.7%), with limited studies employing more contemporary data analysis techniques, such as machine learning (n = 5, 13.9%). Few studies analysed visual data (n = 7, 19.4%). To enable a more complete understanding of mental ill-health representation on social media, further research is needed focussing on popular and influential image and video-based platforms, moving beyond text-based data like Twitter. Future research in this field should also employ a combination of both manual and computer-assisted approaches for analysis.