Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Date of Award

11-2019

Format

pdf

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Proquest Document ID

27663720

Identifier

ETD2019Dardoum

School/University

St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Tex.)

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Montilla, Romulo Estaban

Abstract

Social media is used increasingly for different purposes, playing an important role in peoples’ lives. It has been reported that social media is involved with the mental health profession as it offers a way to communicate with mental health providers and peers who share similar concerns. People with mental illnesses who have utilized social media to share and find mental health information have reported positive outcomes related to their mental health status. However, additional research is needed in regard to the mental health status of general populations. As such, this quantitative study was intended to examine the use of shared mental health information via social media to increase the psychological well-being of Saudi Arabian women. For this study, 725 Saudi Arabian women were surveyed. These participants completed both a demographic questionnaire and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB). The results showed that Saudi Arabian women enjoy a reasonable level of psychological well-being (3.64) with an elevated level of positive relations with others (3.74). The study’s findings indicated a considerable number of participants (45.4) are using social media for mental health purposes. The participants’ employment status and educational level variables were significantly associated with this practice. YouTube was the common social media platform used by Saudi Arabian women for mental health information (53.8%). The most requested mental health information by the participants was learning and improving parenting skills (54.6%) and enhancing positive emotions toward life and self (54.1%). Regarding the relationship between seeking mental health information via social media and the psychological well-being of Saudi Arabian women, the findings rejected the researcher's hypothesis since no meaningful relationship existed with total psychological well-being; similarly, all of the dimensions of the psychological well-being excluded autonomy and positive relations with others. Finally, the study’s findings demonstrated that significant differences existed in the psychological well-being dimensions related to several factors: purposes of using social media, frequency of seeking mental health information via social media and helpfulness of the shared mental information. The findings showed there are no significant differences within psychological well-being dimensions according to the number of social media platforms used by Saudi Arabian women for seeking mental health information.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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