Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore mental health practitioners’

awareness/knowledge of the possible impacts heightened social media use can

have on clients’ mental health. This study also explored how that

knowledge/awareness (or lack thereof) influences the therapeutic process.

This study addressed the following four questions:

1) Is there a difference in the level of social media contents in

assessments and therapeutic sessions between agencies that are

proactive on the impact of heavy use of social media and those that

are not?

2) What is the level of awareness about the negative impact of heavy use

of social media on mental health among mental health practitioners?

3) How do mental health practitioners who completed some training on

social media compare to their non-trained counterparts with regard to

knowledge about the impact of social media on mental health?

4) What is the proportion of mental health practitioners who believe in a

monotonic correlation between heavy use of social media and adverse

mental health consequences?

Conceptual framework
Now, let's build the framework:
1. Social Media Usage: This covers the time spent on social media, the type of content interacted with,
and the nature of the interaction (passive scrolling, commenting, posting, etc.).

2. Psychological Health: This could be measured through various indicators such as levels of anxiety,
depression, self-esteem, emotional well-being, and overall mental health.

The relationship between these two variables is what we're interested in studying. Research suggests
that excessive social media use can lead to negative psychological effects such as depression, stress,
anxiety, emotional isolation, low self-esteem, and even self-harm among students[^1^].

However, it's important to note that this relationship can be influenced by other factors. For example,
the way students use social media (e.g., multitasking, the nature of the content they interact with) can
have different effects on their academic performance and mental health[^2^].

Moreover, the impact of social media on psychological health is not always negative. Some studies
suggest that social media can act as a social support for students, helping them cope with negative
emotions and develop positive feelings[^3^].

This is a basic conceptual framework. Depending on your specific research question, you might want to
include other factors like demographic variables (age, gender, etc.), the specific social media platforms
used, or other aspects of mental health.

Source:

[^1^]: ResearchGate

[^2^]: ResearchGate

[^3^]: NCBI