Overview
TikTok has exploded in popularity, reaching over 2 billion downloads in 2020. The increase in TikTok’s user base around many parts of the world, including Canada, coincided with changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many young people regularly use TikTok to access information about COVID-19 and mental health and to connect with peers. However, there has been limited research about the health information available on TikTok and how young people use that information.
The TikTok Project objectives were:
- Assess the quality of mental health information and advice on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic, and
- Elevate the voices of diverse young people to understand how Canadian youth navigate TikTok during the pandemic to learn about mental health and connect to services.
This project used multiple methods including:
- Content analysis of TikTok videos tagged with #mentalhealth,
- Sentiment analysis to determine if content is positive or negative and
- Qualitative interviews with 30-40 diverse youth from across Canada to understand barriers and facilitators for using TikTok to navigate mental health information and services.
This project increased our understanding of COVID-19 impacts on young people across Canada and how these impacts have translated into new ways of learning about mental health, building communities and connecting to services.
The TikTok Project was led by Dr. Skye Barbic (Head Scientist at Foundry and Associate Professor at University of British Columbia).
Funders
This study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Resources
- Understanding TikTok’s impacts on public health: Interview with Foundry Head Scientist Dr. Skye Barbic and PhD student Marco Zenone.
- Bagenal J, Zenone M, Maani N, Barbic S. (2023). Embracing the non-traditional: Alcohol advertising on TikTok. BMJ Global Health. 8(1):e009954.
- Chasca W, Nerada S, Zenone M, Barbic S. (2023). TikTok and #OccupationalTherapy: Cross-sectional study. JMIR Formative Research. 7:e45554.
- Turuba R, Boniface V, Adair S, Zenone M, Barbic S. (2025). A summative content analysis: How is #Homelessness portrayed on TikTok? Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness. 1-10.
- Turuba R, Cormier W, Zimmerman R, Ow N, Zenone M, Quintana Y, Jenkins E, Ben-David S, Raimundo A, Marcon AR, Mathias S, Henderson J, Barbic S. (2024). Exploring how youth use TikTok for mental health information in British Columbia: Semistructured interview study with youth. JMIR Infodemiology. 4:e53233.
- Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes story: Like, share, heal: Leveraging social media in youth mental health research
- Turuba R, Zenone M, Srivastava R, Stea J, Quintana Y, Ow N, Marchand K, Kwan A, Ong A-J, Ding X, Warren C, Marcon AR, Henderson J, Mathias S, Barbic S. (2025). Do you have depression? A summative content analysis of mental health-related content on TikTok. DIGITAL HEALTH. 11:20552076241297062.
- Zenone M, Kenworthy N, Barbic S. (2023). The paradoxical relationship between health promotion and the social media industry. Health Promotion Practice. 24(3):571-574.
- Zenone M, Ow N, Barbic S. (2021). TikTok and public health: A proposed research agenda. BMJ Global Health. 6(11):e007648.