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Aims and Objectives: to critically appraise the available literature and summarise the evidence relating to adolescent mothers' use of social networking sites in terms of any social support and social capital they may provide and to identify areas for future exploration., Background: social networking sites have been demonstrated to provide social support to marginalised individuals and provide psycho-social benefits to members of such groups. Adolescent mothers are at risk of; social marginalisation; anxiety disorders and depressive symptoms; and poorer health and educational outcomes for their children. Social support has been shown to benefit adolescent mothers thus online mechanisms require consideration., Design: a review of original research articles METHOD: key terms and Boolean operators identified research reports across a 20-year timeframe pertaining to the area of enquiry in: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, Scopus, ERIC, ProQuest, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Health Collection (Informit) and Google Scholar databases. Eight original research articles met the inclusion criteria for this review., Findings: studies demonstrate that adolescent mothers actively search for health information using the Internet and social networking sites, and that social support and social capital can be attributed to their use of specifically created online groups from within targeted health interventions. Use of a message board forum for pregnant and parenting adolescents also demonstrates elements of social support. There are no studies to date pertaining to adolescent mothers' use of globally accessible social networking sites in terms of social support provision and related outcomes., Conclusions: further investigation is warranted to explore the potential benefits of adolescent mothers' use of globally accessible social networking sites in terms of any social support provision and social capital they may provide., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: to explore the use of social networking sites (SNS) by adolescent mothers in Western Australia (WA) in relation to social support and the building of social capital., Design: a constructionist narrative inquiry approach was employed to guide the research design and processes. Approval was gained from the university human ethics department. Sampling was purposeful and data were collected using in-depth interviews with seven adolescent mothers in WA., Setting: interviews were undertaken within the homes of adolescent mothers across WA., Findings: from within three fundamental domains of social support; tangible, emotional and informational support, provided by SNS use, five key themes were identified from the narratives. 'Social connectedness' was identified as a form of tangible support, sometimes termed 'practical' or 'instrumental' support. This theme incorporates connectedness with family, friends, and peers and across new and existing social groups. Three themes were identified that relate to emotional support; 'increased parenting confidence'; 'reduced parental stress' and 'enhanced self-disclosure' afforded by use of SNS. 'Access to information' was identified in terms of informational support, with participants often highlighting SNS use as their primary portal for information and advice., Conclusions: the findings of this study suggest that SNS use affords adolescent mothers in WA access to tangible, informational and emotional support and thus is a valuable source of social capital for these mothers. This study provides a platform for further exploration into this phenomenon, and possible implications include the potential for midwives and health care professionals to promote the benefits of SNS use with, and for, this group of mothers, or to incorporate SNS use into modern health care practices to further develop the potential for improved social capital related outcomes for them., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)