Clinicians embracing social media: Potential and pitfalls

Zoom dysmorphia in e-teaching: shifting the value from attributes to appearance

The current study is motivated by Tory Higgins's self-discrepancy theory and the objectification theory. It aimed to investigate university staff members' perspectives towards zoom dysmorphia while involved in e-teaching during the Covid-19 Pandemic in terms of its popularity, causes, and instructors' experiences with the healing or eliminating mechanisms. Put simply, the researchers meant to identify the impact of the pandemic on body image and the long-term repercussions of e-teaching on instructors' quality. A descriptive online questionnaire was compiled to explore the way (630) university staff members having academic and academic/administrative positions evaluate, perceive, and handle zoom dysmorphia while teaching online. The study results showed several associations between the variables studied. Gender was significant because females proved to have more features of dysmorphia; faculty members who serve in scientific faculties also proved to expect more features of dysmorphia as they tended not to turn on their cameras. The study results also showed that sufferers of zoom dysmorphia warranted that their appearances occasionally made them feel insecure and occupationally unstable. Therefore, they tried different healing mechanisms to eliminate or, at least, reduce its traits. The study concluded that the prevalence of zoom dysmorphia may result in shifting the value from good, effective attributes (e.g., professionalism, adaptability, collaboration, empathy, and patience) of instructors to merely outside physical appearances. The researchers recommend that educators should elicit the presence of zoom dysmorphia at an early stage. They should prepare courses to improve instructors' self-confidence, and provide them with proper technical experience.

Attitudinal responses to current concepts and opinions from pain neuroscience education on social media

BACKGROUND

Pain neuroscience education (PNE) programs have become popular among clinicians and are widely promoted through social and mainstream media.

PURPOSE

To test the hypothesis that people with persistent pain are likely to express negative attitudes to PNE statements and compare their responses to other social media user groups.

METHODS

A total of 1319 respondents completed an online survey and were directed into four groups: persistent pain, healthcare professionals with persistent pain, pain-free healthcare professionals, and pain-free controls. The survey included ten statements of popular PNE concepts. Feedback was invited by offering seven attitudinal response categories (three positives, three negatives, and one neutral). A two-step hierarchical regression model was used to assess the likelihood of reporting negatively.

RESULTS

Compared to controls, respondents from the persistent pain group were more likely to report negatively towards all statements (OR 1.6-2.16), except for two statements (#3 and #5). Healthcare professionals were less likely to report negative attitudes for 4 out of 10 statement (OR 0.35-0.58). Health care professionals living with persistent responded to most statements like the pain-free controls (besides statement #2, OR 0.59).

CONCLUSION

People living with persistent pain are more likely to express negative attitudes to PNE statements on social media, unlike healthcare professionals who were less likely to express negativity. Healthcare professionals living with persistent pain responded to most PNE statements like the pain-free control group. The study's main weaknesses include the lack of psychometric information of the questionnaire used, selection bias, small samples of the healthcare professionals and the overrepresentation of young social media users.

Prejudices against people with epilepsy as perceived by affected people and their families

PROBLEM

Prejudices can impair social participation of people with epilepsy.

METHODS

From 2019 to 2020, we invited people with epilepsy and their relatives across Germany to fill in a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Two hundred and thirty people with epilepsy (PWE, median age: 40 years; min./max.: 19/83; 66% female) and 103 relatives (REL, median age: 42 years; min./max. 23/70; 83% female) took part in the survey. 44% PWE and 40% REL said prejudices against PWE had not declined in recent years. Of PWE, 64% reported they had experienced prejudices themselves. In an open question with multiple answers possible, 71% of the PWE described concrete prejudices against PWE, 62% of the REL did so. The reported prejudices concerned symptoms of epilepsy (37% PWE; 23% REL), academic or occupational performance (47% PWE; 38% REL), social or family life (27% PWE, 29% REL), and other topics (7% PWE, 4% REL). Of PWE, 88% said all or almost all relatives knew about their condition, 74% stated this applied to all or almost all friends, and 48% told all or almost all colleagues about their epilepsy. Of PWE, 94% would want to know if a relative had epilepsy, 87% would like to know about a friend's epilepsy, 70% about a colleague's epilepsy. Fear of stigmatization was a reason for not always communicating the condition according to 20% PWE and 63% REL. None of PWE and 16% of REL named shame as a reason.

CONCLUSION

People with epilepsy still experience prejudices and fear of stigmatization hinders an open communication about the condition.

Social Media in Dermatology and an Overview of Popular Social Media Platforms

Purpose of Review

Social media provides an accessible and increasingly popular avenue for sharing healthcare information, networking, and outreach in dermatology. We provide an overview of prominent social media platforms, also known as applications or apps, as well as a discussion of their influence and implications for the field.

Recent Findings

The various collaborative features of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and other emerging platforms have proven appealing to organizations and users seeking dermatology-related content and medical advice. However, the potential for propagation of inaccurate or even dangerous information is high.

Summary

Despite the risks associated with social media usage, dermatology can benefit from opportunities to connect and engage with audiences through these platforms. Dermatologists should be encouraged to increase their presence on multiple social media apps to dispel and counteract misleading posts with evidence-based knowledge.

Systemic lupus erythematosus on social networking sites: Friends or foes?

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of the most studied autoimmune diseases. The interest shown for this pathology is translated into international scientific journals, congresses, meetings and, recently, in large data available online. Social networking sites (SNS) have gradually advanced from ways to facilitate interpersonal relations to important sources of information, including medical data regarding SLE, with sites largely accessed by both doctors and patients. Albeit the use of SNS can be valuable in providing education and promoting development of public health, it can be misleading if unprofessional sources of information are used; therefore, both "friends and foes" of the data accessed on large scale should always be considered. This viewpoint is a discussion of the potential benefits and harms related to the SNS use for SLE patients as well as for their physicians.

Characterising experiences with acute myeloid leukaemia using an Instagram content analysis

Instagram has more than one billion monthly users, which presents a unique research opportunity particularly in rare diseases or hard to reach populations. This study focuses on acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare haematological malignancy and aims to characterise who posts acute myeloid leukaemia-related content and the type of content created. The findings can provide information and a method for future studies, particularly those focused on online or social media based interventions. Acute myeloid leukaemia-related Instagram posts were identified by searching specific and relevant hashtags (#). A content analysis systematically classified themes in the data. A convenience sample of 100 posts (138 photos) were manually extracted and coded. Data are described using descriptive statistics and demonstrated by qualitative examples. The most frequent users in our sample were patients (66%), patient support networks (24%) and professional organisations (10%). Patients who were communicating their health update (31%) were the most frequently posted content and 25% of these posts described a symptom experience. Our findings demonstrate that patients and their support networks are frequenting Instagram and therefore may be able to receive and benefit from tailored intervention, however there is an identified gap in health-organisations participating in this virtual online community.

Epilepsy: Lessons for clinicians from popular memes on social media

Memes are a very effective, visual means of communication on social media sites. In this study, we examined some of the most popular memes posted on Instagram labeled with an epilepsy hashtag, in order to gain an insight into the thoughts, feelings and concerns of people with epilepsy. 'Awareness', 'warrior' and 'sucks' were the three most common words paired with epilepsy in the hashtag search. The most popular (liked or shared) #epilepsy memes could be classified into 9 broad categories: Seeking advice, Raising awareness, Inspirational quotes, Celebrations of seizure free milestones, Living with Epilepsy, Sharing the diagnosis, Experience of seizures, Medications and Doctor/patient interactions. Popular memes in this latter category highlighted people's difficulties in taking in information with respect to both the breadth and complexity of the discussions in neurological consultations. Other memes in this category depicted the social and psychological challenges associated with some investigations, particularly video-telemetry studies. Analyses of some of the most popular memes posted on social media point to a number of ways in which we can improve the patient/clinician interaction. Practical strategies to address some of these issues are discussed. Memes posted on social media by people with epilepsy provide a valuable source of feedback for clinicians which enables us to improve the care we provide for this group.

Infertility influencers: an analysis of information and influence in the fertility webspace

Purpose

To examine fertility-related social media accounts and influencers on two social media platforms.

Methods

The search function of Twitter (TW) and Instagram (IG) was used to generate a list of accounts with the terms: fertility, infertility, ttc, egg freezing, ivf, endometriosis, and reproductive. Accounts not in English, in private, with no posts in > 1 year, or with content unrelated to search terms were excluded. Accounts were assessed for author type; REI board certification (REI-BC); influencer (INF) status (> 10 K followers on IG; verified check mark on TW); account demographics; and content in last 5 posts. Statistical analysis included unpaired t tests, a classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, and stepwise multiple logistic regression.

Results

Seven hundred ten accounts were identified and 537 (278 TW, 259 IG) were included. Account types included societies, clinics, physicians, patients, groups, and “other.” Instagram content (1290 posts reviewed) was primarily personal stories (31.7%) or inspiration/support (23.7%). Twitter content (1390 posts reviewed) was mostly promotion (28.2%) and research/education (20.2%). Thirty-nine accounts (12.5%) were influencers. Fertility influencers were most often awareness/support accounts (59.8% TW, 25.0% IG), patients (12.8% TW, 25% IG), or other (17.9% TW, 21.0% IG). Only 7.7% TW and 7.1% IG INFs were board-certified REI physicians. The best predictor for classification as an influencer was high activity (> 50 posts/month TW, > 10 posts/month IG).

Conclusion

As patients increasingly utilize social media to obtain and engage with health information, it is critical to understand the fertility-related SM landscape. This understanding may help to successfully enhance relationships with patients and ensure dissemination of accurate information.