Department of Pediatrics, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
Division of Neonatology, Vidant Medical Center, Greenville, North Carolina.
Am J Perinatol. 2023 Nov;40(15):1629-1637. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1736539. Epub 2021 Oct 19.
Parents are increasingly turning to social media for medical recommendations. Our objective was to systematically examine posts on Facebook for parents of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to analyze how advice on medical topics was requested and given, and whether this advice was potentially medically inappropriate.
One hundred Facebook groups were screened for study eligibility. In each group, up to 400 posts on medical topics were evaluated. The first 10 comments of each post were classified based on content and presence of medical advice. Appropriateness of advice was evaluated by a neonatologist.
Of 28 groups meeting study criteria, 10 permitted access for data collection. We identified 729 posts requesting medical advice of which 29% referenced the NICU period. Posts on diagnosis and development (30 and 32% of posts, respectively) were the most common topics, and most likely to receive advice (78 and 76% of posts on these topics, respectively). We identified 238 comments containing potentially inappropriate medical advice and 30 comments recommending going against medical advice.
Parents are utilizing Facebook as a source of support and medical information. Parents are most likely to give development-related advice from their own parenting experiences. The high percentage of posts requesting advice about diagnosis and development in the post-NICU stage suggests parents seek increased anticipatory guidance.
· Parents of premature infants use Facebook to obtain medical advice.. · Advice was at times potentially medically inappropriate.. · Much advice focused on the post-NICU period..
越来越多的家长开始在社交媒体上寻求医学建议。我们的目的是系统地研究在 Facebook 上发布的关于住院新生儿重症监护病房 (NICU) 婴儿的家长的帖子，以分析他们如何请求和提供关于医疗主题的建议，以及这些建议是否存在潜在的医学不当之处。
筛选了 100 个 Facebook 群组以确定研究资格。在每个群组中，评估了最多 400 篇与医疗主题相关的帖子。根据内容和存在的医疗建议，对每个帖子的前 10 条评论进行分类。由新生儿科医生评估建议的适当性。
在符合研究标准的 28 个群组中，有 10 个允许进行数据收集。我们共确定了 729 条请求医疗建议的帖子，其中 29%涉及 NICU 期间。关于诊断和发育的帖子（分别占帖子的 30%和 32%）是最常见的主题，且最有可能获得建议（分别占这些主题帖子的 78%和 76%）。我们共发现 238 条包含潜在不当医疗建议的评论和 30 条建议违反医疗建议的评论。
家长正在利用 Facebook 作为支持和获取医疗信息的来源。家长最有可能根据自己的育儿经验提供与发育相关的建议。在 NICU 后阶段，大多数帖子请求关于诊断和发育的建议，这表明家长寻求增加预期指导。
· 早产儿的父母使用 Facebook 获得医疗建议。· 建议有时可能存在医学不当之处。· 许多建议集中在 NICU 后时期。
