School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
Center for Health Communication, Moody College of Communication and Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2021 Sep 1;7(9):e27715. doi: 10.2196/27715.
Health misinformation is a public health concern. Various stakeholders have called on health care professionals, such as nurses and physicians, to be more proactive in correcting health misinformation on social media.
This study aims to identify US physicians' and nurses' motivations for correcting health misinformation on social media, the barriers they face in doing so, and their recommendations for overcoming such barriers.
In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants, which comprised 15 (50%) registered nurses and 15 (50%) physicians. Qualitative data were analyzed by using thematic analysis.
Participants were personally (eg, personal choice) and professionally (eg, to fulfill the responsibility of a health care professional) motivated to correct health misinformation on social media. However, they also faced intrapersonal (eg, a lack of positive outcomes and time), interpersonal (eg, harassment and bullying), and institutional (eg, a lack of institutional support and social media training) barriers to correcting health misinformation on social media. To overcome these barriers, participants recommended that health care professionals should receive misinformation and social media training, including building their social media presence.
US physicians and nurses are willing to correct health misinformation on social media despite several barriers. Nonetheless, this study provides recommendations that can be used to overcome such barriers. Overall, the findings can be used by health authorities and organizations to guide policies and activities aimed at encouraging more health care professionals to be present on social media to counteract health misinformation.
健康错误信息是一个公共卫生关注点。各利益相关者呼吁护理人员和医生等医疗保健专业人员更积极地在社交媒体上纠正健康错误信息。
本研究旨在确定美国医生和护士在社交媒体上纠正健康错误信息的动机、他们在这样做时面临的障碍，以及他们克服这些障碍的建议。
对 30 名参与者进行了深入访谈，其中包括 15 名（50%）注册护士和 15 名（50%）医生。采用主题分析对定性数据进行分析。
参与者出于个人（例如个人选择）和专业（例如履行医疗保健专业人员的责任）原因，有动力在社交媒体上纠正健康错误信息。然而，他们在社交媒体上纠正健康错误信息时还面临个人（例如缺乏积极的结果和时间）、人际（例如骚扰和欺凌）和机构（例如缺乏机构支持和社交媒体培训）障碍。为了克服这些障碍，参与者建议医疗保健专业人员应接受错误信息和社交媒体培训，包括建立他们的社交媒体存在。
尽管存在一些障碍，但美国医生和护士愿意在社交媒体上纠正健康错误信息。尽管如此，本研究提供了可以用来克服这些障碍的建议。总的来说，这些发现可被卫生当局和组织用来指导旨在鼓励更多医疗保健专业人员在社交媒体上现身以纠正健康错误信息的政策和活动。
