Social Media and Canadian Women's Physical Activity Participation: Developing a New Methodology for Understanding Digital Health

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ESRC : Hester Hockin-Boyers : ES/P000762/1The Mitacs Globalink UK-Canada doctoral exchange scheme would enable PhD student Hester Hockin-Boyers (Durham University) to spend 12-weeks working with Dr Norman and Professor Vertinsky in the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), from September-December 2020. The proposed research will explore how Canadian women's interactions with health and fitness content on Instagram impacts upon physical activity participation. This research is sorely needed because, while social media is increasingly pertinent to the formation of everyday health practices, this dimension is seldom explored. In addition, this project will pilot a novel method, developed by Hockin-Boyers, called 'screenshot elicitation', which seeks to capture the fast, dynamic, mobile and everyday nature of interactions with digital content. Whilst Hockin-Boyers has already begun to develop this technique as part of her PhD research, the Mitacs Globalink project will provide the space and resources to pilot and advance this methodology. The findings resulting from this project have the potential to enhance Canadian women's quality of life, health and wellbeing, by informing digital platform design, social media pedagogies, and public policy in Canada. Furthermore, by providing Hockin-Boyers access to the variety of expertise in Digital Health at UBC, new knowledge and methodological techniques will be brought back to the UK, thus enhancing capacity for further research and innovation