College students’ engagement with social media messaging from university health services: the importance of expectancies and efficacy
Date
2025-02-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of American College Health
Abstract
Objective: The study analyzes e-health message content shared by university health centers and determines college students’ engagement with those messages. Method: Using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) framework, the current study content analyzed the RAA components (target behavior, attitudes/expectancies, social norms, and efficacy) within Instagram messages that were shared by official university health services accounts to promote health behaviors among college students. Results: Results showed that university health services are often using RAA-informed message strategies, with just under half of all posts containing at least one RAA component. Also, students are more likely to engage with university health services content that includes positive expectancies—specifically, improved academic performance and general efficacy. Conclusion: The present research will help university health services tailor their theory-driven messaging to improve student engagement with their e-health content.
Description
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of American College Health on 02/06/2025, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2025.2461617.
© 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
This article will be embargoed until 02/06/2026.
Keywords
university health centers, reasoned actioned approach, student engagement, social media, e-health
Citation
Siddika, Aysha, Morgan E. Ellithorpe, and Christian Reilly. 2025. “College Students’ Engagement with Social Media Messaging from University Health Services: The Importance of Expectancies and Efficacy.” Journal of American College Health, February, 1–6. doi:10.1080/07448481.2025.2461617.