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What is Social Health?

What is Social Health?

The patient journey has evolved from a linear path to a constellation of interactive moments that help inform critical health decisions. Through social health – the dynamic, real-time action people take to find meaningful connections and share information that impact the health journey – patients find information, connection and validation, creating mutually beneficial opportunities for both patients and the pharma industry in meaningful moments that matter.

Explore patient and industry perspectives that bring the data behind social health to life.

The Data Behind Social Health

Patients are seeking dynamic connections that have reinvented the patient journey — and pharma’s role in it.

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95% use online social resources for health reasons

and ¾ use online social resources at critical inflection points in their journey, according to a Health Union survey of 2,371 patients.

Engagement and interaction with social resources occur most often when the patients surveyed face a change or new situation:

  • 74%

     

    while understanding test results

  • 74%

     

    when finding or learning about new medication or treatment options

  • 72%

     

    at the time of diagnosis

  • 69%

     

    when experiencing new or different symptoms

  • 65%

     

    when starting or switching medication or treatment

  • 74 percent

    while understanding test results

  • 74 percent

    when finding or learning about new medication or treatment options

  • 72 percent

    at the time of diagnosis

  • 69 percent

    when experiencing new or different symptoms

  • 65 percent

    when starting or switching medication or treatment

More than 8 in 10 will utilize the information gathered online in conversations with an HCP.

As a result of using online resources, patients surveyed report tangible and emotional outcomes:

better understand their condition

better talk with their doctor

feel more informed about treatment

feel smarter about their condition

feel less alone in their condition

  • The Future of Healthcare Marketing

    Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly engaging trusted health social influencers…

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  • Make Your Pharma Marketing More Personal

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  • Social Connection in a Time of Physical Distance

    While technology often seems like the go-to solution for helping people connect while staying physically distant, data linking social media and depression might give us pause…

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  • 3 Considerations for Pharma Brand Strategy Success

    New challenges are presented for marketers as privacy measures tighten and we say goodbye to cookies…

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  • Fostering Confidence in Autoimmune Patients

    When a person is newly diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, such as psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis, it’s not uncommon for us to hear from them in our online health communities…

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  • 5 Situations That Prompt Patients to Engage in Social Health

    Nothing quite compares to the level of solace patients find in connecting with others who share similar health experiences. These interactions have become so fundamental…

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  • Shared Experiences Drive Connection through Social Health

    When the sun set on the year 2020, the world looked to 2021 with the hope that it would see a return to “normalcy.” Instead, it was a year that seemed…

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5 Situations That Prompt Patients to Engage in Social Health

Nothing quite compares to the level of solace patients find in connecting with others who share similar health experiences. These interactions have become so fundamental to people…

Read more

The Year of Reconnection: Shared Experiences Drive Connection through Social Health

2021 was a year of reconnection–adapting to a time that even a decade ago would have all but fully isolated us from our communities…

Read more

The Future of Healthcare Marketing

With advertisers preparing to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly (and carefully) engaging trusted health social…

Read more

5 Ways to Make Your Pharma Marketing More Personal

Personalization in marketing–the practice of understanding and delivering content when and where people are ready to accept it–in any…

Read more

Social Connection in a Time of Physical Distance

While technology often seems like the go-to solution for helping people connect while staying physically distant, data linking social media and depression might give us pause…

Read more

3 Considerations for Pharma Brand Strategy Success

Change is coming in the digital marketing world whether you’re ready or not. New challenges are presented for marketers as privacy measures tighten and we say goodbye to cookies…

Read more

Fostering Confidence in Newly Diagnosed Autoimmune Patients

When a person is newly diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, such as psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis, it’s not uncommon for us to hear from them in our online health communities…

Read more
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Patient and Industry Perspectives on Social Health

Exploring Social Health: Why it Matters

Rare disease advocate and WEGO Health Awards winner, Effie Parks, speaks with Health Union co-founder and CEO, Olivier Chateau. The duo discusses everything from the basic definition of social health, the importance of micro-moments of connection, social health’s implications for the future of healthcare, and how it can truly change the course of patients’ lives for the better.

Patient Leader Perspective

Sumaira Ahmed, Neuromyelitis Optica Patient Leader and founder of The Sumaira Foundation, daily sees social health in action in her advocacy work. Her stories underscore the power of social health and meeting patients where they are to make connections in meaningful moments.

Industry Leader Perspective

Vanita Sharma, executive director at Xeris Pharmaceuticals, speaks about the importance of the industry joining conversations in online communities in critical moments to support patients with information needed to succeed.

Patient Leader Perspective

Rare disease patient leader and caregiver, Sarita Edwards, shares the emotional and profound impact that social health and patient communities have had on her and her advocacy work.

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Contact us at media@health-union.com