Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40193332.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000802 and PMC identifier 11975109.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Social media platforms, such as Instagram, are increasingly used as a source of health information; however, it is unclear how to effectively leverage these platforms during public health emergencies. @PandemicPregnancyGuide (PPG) was an Instagram account created by Canadian physicians to provide perinatal health information during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional survey, and assessed Instagram analytics, to determine how and why users followed PPG and its impact on health decision-making. Respondents most valued posts explaining scientific articles in lay language and the delivery of content by medical experts. Topics of greatest interest were COVID-19 vaccination while pregnant (76%), COVID-19 infection during pregnancy (71%), and labour and delivery during the pandemic (69%). Respondents self-reported being more likely to use COVID-19 protective measures while pregnant (80%), receive COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy (87%), and vaccinate their children against COVID-19 (58%) due to the information shared by PPG. Taken together, we demonstrate how healthcare professionals can effectively leverage social media to disseminate health information and improve uptake of public health recommendations. We recommend consideration of our findings in the development of future health-based social media platforms, particularly during public health emergencies or campaigns.