IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-01820-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Healthcare professionals’ editorial opinions on communicating with the public: shifting social media hesitancies

Author

Listed:
  • Lina Alhafez

    (Rovira i Virgili University
    Rovira i Virgili University)

  • Lourdes Rubio-Rico

    (Rovira i Virgili University
    Rovira i Virgili University)

  • Miriam Diez-Bosch

    (Ramon Llull University)

Abstract

The increasing infodemic, changes in the media landscape, and the COVID-19 pandemic have rendered healthcare professionals’ involvement in social media (SoMe) of urgent need. However, research efforts to understand the opinions, needs, and concerns of healthcare professionals (HCP) tackling this new responsibility have been limited, despite being necessary for designing efficient support for them. In this article we look at varying opinions and attitudes published by HCPs towards the use of SoMe as a tool to communicate health-related information to the public: How did their attitudes develop since the decade preceding the COVID-19 outbreak and what were their main expressed concerns over the years. We conducted a qualitative review of editorials published on this topic in academic journals since 2010 by searching five databases up to December 2022. Thirty-eight (38) articles met the selection criteria. Nineteen (19) expressed a positive attitude, and Nineteen (19) expressed a negative or cautious attitude. Based on the results, the research period (2010–2022) was divided into three stages: 2010–2015, 2016–2018, and 2019–2022. Attitudes in the first stage were positive, the middle was at almost a tie, and the last retreated to negative. The most common concerns cited regarding SoMe use by HCPs are negative effects on physician–patient relationships, HCPs’ professional image, patient privacy, the quality of the information provided, conflict of interest declarations, ethical and legal risks, the perception of medical consensus, limited resources, and competing with entertainment. The editorial opinions of HCPs towards professional SoMe use express shifting hesitancies. The earlier optimism succeeded in an era (pre-2010) of cautioning against engaging with SoMe. Concerns in the first stage were mainly related to HCP´s behavior and use of SoMe. The last phase’s concerns were more oriented toward SoMe platforms, their design, dynamics, and effect on public discourse, with the escalating infodemic and COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Lina Alhafez & Lourdes Rubio-Rico & Miriam Diez-Bosch, 2023. "Healthcare professionals’ editorial opinions on communicating with the public: shifting social media hesitancies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01820-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01820-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-01820-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-01820-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katharine J. Mach & Raúl Salas Reyes & Brian Pentz & Jennifer Taylor & Clarissa A. Costa & Sandip G. Cruz & Kerronia E. Thomas & James C. Arnott & Rosalind Donald & Kripa Jagannathan & Christine J. Ki, 2021. "News media coverage of COVID-19 public health and policy information," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Wang, Yuxi & McKee, Martin & Torbica, Aleksandra & Stuckler, David, 2019. "Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    3. Catriona Jones & Mark Hayter, 2013. "Editorial: Social media use by nurses and midwives: a ‘recipe for disaster’ or a ‘force for good’?," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(11-12), pages 1495-1496, June.
    4. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303738_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Grant, R., 2017. "Public health professionals urgently need to develop more effective communications strategies," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(5), pages 658-659.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lingli Yu & Ling Yang, 2024. "News media in crisis: a sentiment and emotion analysis of US news articles on unemployment in the COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Ronnie Das & Wasim Ahmed, 2022. "Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology during the time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 11(1), pages 146-159, January.
    3. Gülsen Erden & Asil Ali Özdoğru & Sami Çoksan & Hale Ögel-Balaban & Yakup Azak & İlkiz Altınoğlu-Dikmeer & Aysun Ergül-Topçu & Yeşim Yasak & Gözde Kıral-Uçar & Seda Oktay & Pelin Karaca-Dinç & Ezgi Di, 2022. "Social Contact, Academic Satisfaction, COVID-19 Knowledge, and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2017-2039, August.
    4. Benjamin Nickl & Kuanyong Qiu & Jordi Vidal-Robert, 2024. "Comparative dimensions of COVID-19 visual health literacy: social media news imagery in Germany and China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Rondan-Cataluña, F. Javier & Peral-Peral, Begoña & Ramírez-Correa, Patricio E., 2023. "Measuring public opinion of education apps," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. DeMora, Stephanie L. & Granados Samayoa, Javier A. & Albarracín, Dolores, 2024. "Social media use and vaccination among Democrats and Republicans: Informational and normative influences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    7. Rezaee, Arman & Hirshleifer, Sarojini & Naseem, Mustafa & Raza, Agha Ali, 2023. "The Spread of (Mis)information: A Social Media Experiment in Pakistan," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt53n4q35z, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    8. Xiaolin Hu & Diyana Nawar Kasimon & Wan Anita Wan Abas, 2024. "Media Coverage of China During COVID-19: A Systematic Review," Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(2), pages 359-376, June.
    9. Islam, Asad & Pakrashi, Debayan & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wang, Liang Choon, 2021. "Stigma and misconceptions in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: A field experiment in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    10. Sirola, Anu & Nuckols, Julia & Nyrhinen, Jussi & Wilska, Terhi-Anna, 2022. "The use of the Dark Web as a COVID-19 information source: A three-country study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    11. Mustak, Mekhail & Salminen, Joni & Mäntymäki, Matti & Rahman, Arafat & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2023. "Deepfakes: Deceptions, mitigations, and opportunities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Brilli, Ylenia & Lucifora, Claudio & Russo, Antonio & Tonello, Marco, 2020. "Influenza vaccination behavior and media reporting of adverse events," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(12), pages 1403-1411.
    13. Nan, Xiaoli & Wang, Yuan & Thier, Kathryn, 2022. "Why do people believe health misinformation and who is at risk? A systematic review of individual differences in susceptibility to health misinformation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    14. Charry, Karine & Tessitore, Tina, 2021. "I tweet, they follow, you eat: Number of followers as nudge on social media to eat more healthily," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    15. Schneider-Kamp, Anna & Takhar, Jennifer, 2023. "Interrogating the pill: Rising distrust and the reshaping of health risk perceptions in the social media age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    16. Cano-Marin, Enrique & Mora-Cantallops, Marçal & Sanchez-Alonso, Salvador, 2023. "The power of big data analytics over fake news: A scientometric review of Twitter as a predictive system in healthcare," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    17. David J. Grüning, 2022. "Synthesis of human and artificial intelligence: Review of “How to stay smart in a smart world: Why human intelligence still beats algorithms” by Gerd Gigerenzer," Futures & Foresight Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(3-4), September.
    18. Zhao, Xiaoquan & Horoszko, Urszula A. & Murphy, Amy & Taylor, Bruce G. & Lamuda, Phoebe A. & Pollack, Harold A. & Schneider, John A. & Taxman, Faye S., 2023. "Openness to change among COVID misinformation endorsers: Associations with social demographic characteristics and information source usage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    19. Forman, Rebecca & Azzopardi-Muscat, Natasha & Kirkby, Victoria & Lessof, Suszy & Nathan, Naomi Limaro & Pastorino, Gabriele & Permanand, Govin & van Schalkwyk, May CI & Torbica, Aleksandra & Busse, Re, 2022. "Drawing light from the pandemic: Rethinking strategies for health policy and beyond," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 1-6.
    20. Stephen Bok & Daniel E. Martin & Erik Acosta & Maria Lee & James Shum, 2021. "Validation of the COVID-19 Transmission Misinformation Scale and Conditional Indirect Negative Effects on Wearing a Mask in Public," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-23, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01820-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.