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Hopelab & Well Being Trust 34 Teens and young adults report using a variety of methods to connect with peer-to-peer health resources online. As mentioned above, a total of 39% say they have gone online to try to find people with health conditions similar to their own. Among the methods they have used to do that are: going to online forums on specific health topics (e.g., a chat room for people with diabetes), which more than one in four (28%) young people say they have done; through social media (19% report having done this); through blogs (15%); and commenting on other people's public posts (14%). (The total adds to more than 39% because some TYAs have used more than one way to try to find health peers online). The 19% of teens and young adults who report using social media specifically to try to connect with health peers say they have done so in a variety of ways, including: following somebody with similar health concerns (13% of all TYAs), conducting hashtag searches on social media (9% of all), participating in private social media groups such as closed Facebook groups (9% of all), or posting their own queries on social media (8% of all). (Again, the total adds to more than 19% because some TYAs use more than one method to find health peers through social media). Some young people prefer offline health resources. Of the 61% of those who say they haven't sought out people with similar health concerns online, most say it's because they simply haven't had any serious health issues (55%; respondents were allowed to select multiple reasons why they had not done so). But many also say they would rather talk to people in person (36%) or that they prefer to rely on professional health providers (33%). One in four (25%) say they don't trust online advice from people they don't know. Fewer than one in ten (9%) say they don't know how to find people online with similar health conditions. Table 3: Connecting to health peers online Among 14- to 22-year-olds, percent who say they have used each method to try to find health peers online: Source: Hopelab/Well Being Trust Teens and Young Adults Survey, February-March 2018. N=1,337 young people ages 14-22. Online forums on specific health topics Hashtag searches on social media Private/closed social media groups Posting queries on social media Through blogs Commenting on public posts (e.g. YouTube) Through social media + Following someone on social media with similar health concerns TOTAL: Have gone online to find people with similar health concerns ++ 28% 9% 9% 8% 15% 14% 19% 13% 39% Digital Health Practices Digital Health Practices Among Teens and Young Adults + Subitems add to more than 19% because respondents used multiple methods to find health peers through social media. ++ Subitems add to more than 39% because respondents used multiple methods to connect with health peers online.

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