Examining Health Promotion in Singapore : a content analysis on Health Promotion Board YouTube videos

• Main Author: Tan, Wan Qin
• Other Authors: Ang Wee Boon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Science::General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78946
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Social media is a communication platform used by many health organizations including health authorities in Singapore to disseminate health contents to the general public. In view of the lack of studies being conducted on the analysis of health contents published online in Singapore, the present study was conducted to examine the coverage of health contents on social media in Singapore. A total of 366 YouTube videos published by Health Promotion Board (HPB) from May 2009 to May 2019 were examined using content analysis to reveal the themes and characteristics of health contents in Singapore. Themes are derived based on HPB guidelines established for promoting a holistic approach to healthy living. Allocation of videos into their respective themes were based on the health messages conveyed in each video. Content characteristics are derived based on the health issue targeted in each video. Trends identified across the data are used to interpret prevalent health issues in Singapore across two timepoints: 2009 to 2014 and 2015 to 2019. Contents under food and beverage had the greatest content coverage mainly comprising of videos related to healthier recipes in the two timepoints. Contents related to preventive health were published most consistently during the period understudied, with greatest content coverage on cancer in the first timepoint and diabetes in the second timepoint. After validating with relevant sources, it is concluded that health contents published by HPB on YouTube reflects certain prevalent health issues in Singapore that are associated with preventive health and food and beverage.