Contraceptive content material shared on social media largely not from well being specialists, research finds

Brigham researchers checked out tweets from 2014 to 2019 about contraceptive strategies and located that solely a small fraction have been authored by well being professionals.

Sufferers are fast to show to social media for steerage on contraception strategies, unintended effects and training, however what sort of content material is being shared and who’s sharing it? A brand new research performed by researchers at Brigham and Girls’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass Common Brigham healthcare system, checked out 1000’s of tweets about reversible contraceptive strategies printed from 2014 to 2019. Tweets have been ceaselessly posted by contraceptive shoppers (about 50 p.c), with a a lot smaller proportion (6 p.c) posted by an official information or healthcare supply. The findings level to alternatives for healthcare professionals to make use of social media to disseminate correct contraceptive info. Outcomes are printed in Contraception and Reproductive Medication.

“Platforms like Twitter, now generally known as X, empower sufferers to entry well being info and make selections about contraception that align with their values,” mentioned Deborah Bartz, MD, MPH, an affiliate professor of medication at Harvard Medical Faculty and an attending doctor within the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology at BWH. “We see that people are making selections about contraception primarily based on anecdotal expertise and recommendation from associates, household, and social media customers. So how can we, as physicians, use social media to result in higher well being encounters and in the end higher well being outcomes?”

Following up on a earlier research through which the staff analyzed tweets from 2006 (the 12 months Twitter was based) till 2019, researchers chosen a random pattern of 1 p.c, or 4,434 out of the 457, 369 publicly out there English-language tweets associated to reversible prescription contraception strategies posted between January 2014 and December 2019. The staff sorted tweets by contraception technique and subjects, together with classes like efficacy, entry, and security. Two researchers coded tweets by theme, supply (well being skilled, information supply, client) and people seeing info versus offering recommendation, and a 3rd particular person resolved any discrepancies from the preliminary coding evaluation.

They discovered that 26.7% of tweets mentioned contraception technique decision-making, and 20.5% lined unintended effects, significantly for intrauterine gadgets (IUDs) and the depot medroxyprogesterone acetate shot. Roughly 6% of tweets requested extra info on contraception, and about 4% requested for recommendation. IUDs have been probably the most ceaselessly mentioned long-term contraceptive technique on the platform.

Notably, roughly half (50.6%) of tweets have been posted by contraceptive shoppers, whereas six p.c have been posted by official information or healthcare sources. Researchers additionally discovered that journalists and information sources authored considerably extra tweets than healthcare professionals. Well being professionals on Twitter have been additionally extra more likely to submit instructional content material than different person demographics the staff studied. Twitter customers typically reported making a choice about contraception primarily based on info from a non-clinical supply, similar to associates, household or social media.

All posts analyzed on this research have been sorted and coded by people, leaving room for interpretation as to what content material class they fall into (for instance, unintended effects versus decision-making). As a result of the staff solely analyzed English-language tweets, these findings might not embody non-English-speaking populations’ perceptions of contraception. Whereas authors took stock of the kind of content material Twitter customers mentioned, they didn’t consider posts for accuracy, one thing Bartz goals to do in future work.

Bartz defined well being professionals can’t ignore the data and misconceptions current on social media and will ask their sufferers about what training they have already got on contraception in medical discussions. She emphasised {that a} key takeaway from this research is that social media customers need to hear from well being professionals on-line.

I’d like to work with healthcare professionals on the right way to craft efficient messaging about contraception and ship these messages by way of social media to achieve as many sufferers as potential. We all know that instructional content material shared by well being professionals is well-received by customers. Overwhelmingly, we see that individuals need to hear from medical professionals on social media.”

Deborah Bartz, MD, MPH, Affiliate professor of Medication, Harvard Medical Faculty