Role for Social Media in Pediatric Liver Disease: Caregiver and Provider Perspectives

Patient and Caregiver Perception of Adenoidectomies: A Non-Real-World Social Media Analysis

Objective

To survey the social media outlets Twitter and Instagram for public posts related to adenoidectomy surgery. This study aims to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of patients and caregivers on social media, through thematic content-analysis of social media posts regarding adenoidectomy.

Study Design

Non-real world qualitative study.

Setting

Twitter and Instagram social media platforms.

Methods

Public posts uploaded between February, 2021 and February, 2023 using the hashtags "#adenoidectomy," and "#adenoidectomyrecovery" were searched. Posts were excluded if they were unrelated to adenoidectomy or were in a non-English language. Relevant posts were stratified demographically as patient or caregiver and pre- or postoperative, and categorized into relevant themes for analysis. Outcomes were measured as the total number of posts.

Results

A total of 394 relevant posts were analyzed. A significance threshold of P < 0.05 was used. Patients posted significantly more posts regarding procedure pain (P = 0.002) and concern for appearance (P = 0.048) compared to caregivers. Caregivers posted significantly (P < 0.001) more posts regarding condition awareness and were significantly (P < 0.001) more likely to spread positivity in their posts compared to patients themselves. Posts made by female caregivers were more likely to reference fear, while those made by male caregivers were more likely to provide education (P = 0.002).

Conclusion

Patients may worry about appearance and mental health while caregivers are more likely to spread information and positivity. Male and female caregivers may also use social media differently. A better understanding of patient and caregiver concerns may optimize physician interaction and involvement.

Addressing Social Adversity to Improve Outcomes for Children After Liver Transplant

The social determinants of health, defined as the conditions in which we live, learn, work, and play, undoubtedly impact health outcomes. Social adversity in childhood perpetuates over the life course and has consequences extending into adulthood. This link between social adversity and adverse outcomes extends to children undergoing liver transplant, with children from socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods experiencing a greater burden of morbidity and mortality after transplant. Yet, we lack an in-depth understanding of how to address social adversity for these children. Herein, we lay out a strategy to develop and test interventions to address social adversity for children undergoing liver transplant. To do so, we believe that more granular data on how specific social risk factors (e.g., food insecurity) impact outcomes for children after liver transplant are needed. This will provide the liver transplant community with knowledge on the most pressing problems. Then, using the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's framework for integrating social needs into medical care, the health system can start to develop and test health system interventions. We believe that attending to our patients' social adversity will realize improved outcomes for children undergoing liver transplant.