Social Media in Communicating Health Information: An Analysis of Facebook Groups Related to Hypertension

被引:40
作者
Al Mamun, Mohammad
Ibrahim, Hamza M. [1 ]
Turin, Tanvir Chowdhury [2 ]
机构
[1] Minist Hlth, Gen Directorate Hlth Affairs Tabuk Reg, Dept Publ Hlth, Tabuk 71474, Saudi Arabia
[2] Univ Calgary, Dept Family Med, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
来源
PREVENTING CHRONIC DISEASE | 2015年 / 12卷
关键词
NETWORKING; INTERNET; TWITTER; SITES; AGE;
D O I
10.5888/pcd12.140265
中图分类号
R1 [预防医学、卫生学];
学科分类号
1004 ; 120402 ;
摘要
Introduction We studied Facebook groups related to hypertension to characterize their objectives, subject matter, member sizes, geographical boundaries, level of activity, and user-generated content. Methods We performed a systematic search among open Facebook groups using the keywords "hypertension," "high blood pressure," "raised blood pressure," and "blood pressure." We extracted relevant data from each group's content and developed a coding and categorizing scheme for the whole data set. Stepwise logistic regression was used to explore factors independently associated with each group's level of activity. Results We found 187 hypertension-related Facebook groups containing 8,966 members. The main objective of most (59.9%) Facebook groups was to create hypertension awareness, and 11.2% were created primarily to support patients and caregivers. Among the topdisplayed, most recent posts (n = 164), 21.3% were focused on product or service promotion, whereas one-fifth of posts were related to hypertension-awareness information. Each Facebook group's level of activity was independently associated with group size (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.03), presence of "likes" on the most recent wall post (AOR, 3.55, 95% CI, 1.41-8.92), and presence of attached files on the group wall (AOR, 5.01, 95% CI, 1.25-20.1). Conclusion The primary objective of most of the hypertension-related Facebook groups observed in this study was awareness creation. Compared with the whole Facebook community, the total number of hypertension-related Facebook groups and their users was small and the groups were less active.
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页数:10
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