Asiri Eman, Khalifa Mohamed, Shabir Syed-Abdul, Hossain Md Nassif, Iqbal Usman, Househ Mowafa
King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah , Saudi Arabia.
Int J Qual Health Care. 2017 Feb 1;29(1):68-74. doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzw137.
Sharing daily activities on social media has become a part of our lifestyle, but little is known about sharing sensitive health information in the Arab world.
The objective of this study is to explore how social media users in the Arab world share sensitive health information through Facebook.
A retrospective qualitative analysis was used in the study.
A total of 110 Facebook groups, related to HIV, sickle cell and depression were screened between 5 June and 1 December 2014.
Forty four Facebook groups met the inclusion criteria. 28 471 posts were extracted, of which 649 met inclusion criteria. Forty two percent of health information exchanged were related to HIV, 34% to depression and 24% to sickle cell diseases. The majority of postings were from Egypt 21.1%, Saudi Arabia 20%, Algeria 10% and Libya 9.2%. Male posts were 54.2% while 45.8% were posted by females. Individuals utilized Facebook groups to share personal experiences of their disease 31%, in addition to being used for seeking queries 13.6%, offering explicit advice 8.3%, reporting signs and symptoms of the disease 7.3% and posting their communication with the health-care provider 6.6%.
Users in the Arab world use social media to exchange sensitive health information, which could have serious implications regarding the privacy of the information shared with other members of the group. On the other hand, sharing health information could have positive effects for patients, such as sharing disease experiences and peer support. However, more work is needed to ensure that Facebook users in the Arab world are aware of the potential consequences of sharing sensitive health information through social media.
在社交媒体上分享日常活动已成为我们生活方式的一部分，但在阿拉伯世界，关于分享敏感健康信息的情况却鲜为人知。
本研究的目的是探讨阿拉伯世界的社交媒体用户如何通过脸书分享敏感健康信息。
本研究采用回顾性定性分析。
2014年6月5日至12月1日期间，共筛选了110个与艾滋病毒、镰状细胞病和抑郁症相关的脸书群组。
44个脸书群组符合纳入标准。提取了28471条帖子，其中649条符合纳入标准。所交流的健康信息中，42%与艾滋病毒有关，34%与抑郁症有关，24%与镰状细胞病有关。大多数帖子来自埃及（21.1%）沙特阿拉伯（20%）、阿尔及利亚（10%）和利比亚（9.2%）。男性发布的帖子占54.2%，女性发布的占45.8%。个人利用脸书群组分享自己疾病的个人经历（31%），此外还用于寻求问题解答（13.6%）、提供明确建议（8.3%）、报告疾病的体征和症状（7.3%）以及发布他们与医疗服务提供者的沟通情况（6.6%）。
阿拉伯世界的用户利用社交媒体交流敏感健康信息，这可能对与群组其他成员分享的信息隐私产生严重影响。另一方面，分享健康信息可能对患者有积极影响，比如分享疾病经历和同伴支持。然而，需要做更多工作来确保阿拉伯世界的脸书用户意识到通过社交媒体分享敏感健康信息的潜在后果。
