University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford, UK
Oxfordshire Sexual Health Service, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
BMJ Sex Reprod Health. 2024 Oct 15;50(4):271-277. doi: 10.1136/bmjsrh-2023-202011.
In June 2021, high-profile testimonials in the media about pain during intrauterine device (IUD) procedures in the UK prompted significant discussion across platforms including Twitter (subsequently renamed X). We examined a sample of Twitter postings (tweets) to gain insight into public perspectives and experiences.
We harvested tweets posted or retweeted on 21-22 June 2021 which contained the search terms coil, intrauterine system, IUD or intrauterine. We analysed the dataset thematically and selected illustrative tweets with the authors' consent for publication.
Following deduplication and screening, we included 1431 tweets in our analysis. We identified testimonials with descriptions of varied pain experiences. Twitter users reported that clinicians had not warned them that pain could be severe or explained the options for pain relief. Some raised concerns about pain being minimised or dismissed and linked this to the management of women's pain in medicine more broadly. Twitter users described connecting to an online community with shared experiences as validating and used this as a springboard for collective action.
While we acknowledge the limitations of our sample, this study highlights important perspectives and accounts relating to pain during IUD procedures. Our findings attest to the need for strategies to improve the patient experience for those opting for IUD as a clinical priority. Further research should explore IUD users' experiences, expectations and wishes around pain management.
2021 年 6 月，英国媒体对宫内节育器（IUD）手术过程中疼痛的高调证词在包括 Twitter（后更名为 X）在内的各大平台上引发了激烈讨论。我们对 Twitter 帖子（推文）进行了抽样分析，以深入了解公众的观点和体验。
我们采集了 2021 年 6 月 21 日至 22 日发布或转发的推文，其中包含 coil、intrauterine system、IUD 或 intrauterine 等搜索词。我们对数据集进行了主题分析，并选择了作者同意发表的有代表性的推文。
经过去重和筛选，我们的分析中包含了 1431 条推文。我们发现了一些带有不同疼痛体验描述的证词。Twitter 用户报告说，临床医生没有警告他们疼痛可能很严重，也没有解释缓解疼痛的选择。一些人对疼痛被最小化或忽视表示担忧，并将这与更广泛的女性疼痛管理联系起来。Twitter 用户描述了与具有共同经历的在线社区建立联系，认为这是一种验证，并将其作为集体行动的跳板。
虽然我们承认我们的样本存在局限性，但这项研究强调了与 IUD 手术过程中疼痛相关的重要观点和描述。我们的研究结果证明，需要制定策略来改善那些选择 IUD 作为临床优先事项的患者的体验。进一步的研究应该探讨 IUD 用户在疼痛管理方面的体验、期望和愿望。
