Unvaxxed: A Cultural Study of the Online Anti-Vaccination Movement

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110560
Author(s):  
Carlina DiRusso ◽  
Kathleen Stansberry
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Cultural Constructs ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

In this study, the constructive communication process of anti-vaccination advocates is explored to provide insight into the challenges of communicating with an engaged, educated public that is distrustful of mainstream medical and governmental organizations. Using the circuit of culture as a theoretical and methodological model, this article examines how anti-vaccination advocates use social media to construct and reinforce a belief system that counters dominate understandings of health. Findings show that, through online communication, anti-vaccination advocates create shared cultural constructs embracing the identity of health information crusader, critic, and expert. This community consumes, produces, and distributes information that reframes mainstream health information and reinforces shared values. The purposes of this study are to better understand the culture of anti-vaccination advocates, identify communication barriers, and offer practical implications for health care professionals.

scholarly journals Differences in Perceptions of Health Information Between the Public and Health Care Professionals: Nonprobability Sampling Questionnaire Survey (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Gesser-Edelsburg ◽  
Nour Abed Elhadi Shahbari ◽  
Ricky Cohen ◽  
Adva Mir Halavi ◽  
Rana Hijazi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
New Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
General Public ◽  
The Public ◽  
Search For Information

BACKGROUND In the new media age, the public searches for information both online and offline. Many studies have examined how the public reads and understands this information but very few investigate how people assess the quality of journalistic articles as opposed to information generated by health professionals. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine how public health care workers (HCWs) and the general public seek, read, and understand health information and to investigate the criteria by which they assess the quality of journalistic articles. METHODS A Web-based nonprobability sampling questionnaire survey was distributed to Israeli HCWs and members of the public via 3 social media outlets: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. A total of 979 respondents participated in the online survey via the Qualtrics XM platform. RESULTS The findings indicate that HCWs find academic articles more reliable than do members of the general public (44.4% and 28.4%, respectively, P<.001). Within each group, we found disparities between the places where people search for information and the sources they consider reliable. HCWs consider academic articles to be the most reliable, yet these are not their main information sources. In addition, HCWs often use social networks to search for information (18.2%, P<.001), despite considering them very unreliable (only 2.2% found them reliable, P<.001). The same paradoxes were found among the general public, where 37.5% (P<.001) seek information via social networks yet only 8.4% (P<.001) find them reliable. Out of 6 quality criteria, 4 were important both to HCWs and to the general public. CONCLUSIONS In the new media age where information is accessible to all, the quality of articles about health is of critical importance. It is important that the criteria examined in this research become the norm in health writing for all stakeholders who write about health, whether they are professional journalists or citizen journalists writing in the new media.

scholarly journals Use of Social Media in Health Communication: Findings From the Health Information National Trends Survey 2013, 2014, and 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 107327481984144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhai Huo ◽  
Raj Desai ◽  
Young-Rock Hong ◽  
Kea Turner ◽  
Arch G. Mainous ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
National Trends ◽  
Pooled Sample

The number of social media users has increased substantially in the past decade, creating an opportunity for health-care professionals and patients to leverage social media for health communication. This study examines the recent use and predictors of social media for health communication in a nationally representative sample of US adults over time. We used 2013, 2014, and 2017 National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey to identify respondents’ use of social media for sharing health information or exchanging medical information with a health-care professional. We conducted bivariate analysis using the Pearson χ2 test to assess the association of respondents’ basic demographic characteristics as well as health status and the use of social media for health communication. We performed multivariable logistic regression models to examine factors associated with the use of social media for health communication. We identified 4242 respondents (weighted sample size: 343 465 241 [2-year pooled sample]) who used social media for sharing health information and 4834 respondents (weighted sample size: 354 419 489 [2-year pooled sample]) who used social media for exchanging medical information. Multivariable analyses indicated the proportion of respondents who used social media for sharing health information has decreased (odds ratio [OR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49-0.85, P = .002), while the use of social media for exchanging medical information with a health-care professional has increased (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.09-3.26, P = .025). The younger population had significantly higher odds of using social media for health communication. The study found no racial/ethnic disparities in the use of social media for health communication. Use of social media for sharing health information has declined, while exchanging medical information with health-care professionals has increased. Future research is needed to determine how to engage the population in social media–based health interventions, particularly for older adults.

scholarly journals Where else would I look for it? A five-country qualitative study on purposes, strategies, and consequences of online health information seeking

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Diviani ◽  
Eva Haukeland Fredriksen ◽  
Corine S. Meppelink ◽  
Judy Mullan ◽  
Warren Rich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
The Body ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ehealth Literacy ◽  
Digital Divides

Background. Online health information (OHI) is widely available and consulted by many people in Western countries to gain health advice. The main goal of the present study is to provide a detailed account of the experiences among people from various demographic backgrounds living in high-income countries, who have used OHI. Design and methods. Thematic analysis of 165 qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted among OHI users residing in Australia, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland was performed. Results. The lived experience of people using OHI seem not to differ across countries. The interviews show that searches for OHI are motivated from curiosity, sharing of experiences, or affirmation for actions already taken. Most people find it difficult to appraise the information, leading them to cross-check sources or discuss OHI with others. OHI seems to impact mostly some specific types of health behaviors, such as changes in diet or physical activity, while it only plays a complementary role for more serious health concerns. Participants often check OHI before seeing their GP, but are reluctant to discuss online content with health care personnel due to expected negative reception. Conclusions. This study adds to the body of knowledge on eHealth literacy by demonstrating how OHI affects overall health behavior, strengthens patients’ ability to understand, live with, and prepare themselves for diverse health challenges. The increasing digitalization of health communication and health care calls for further research on digital divides and patient-professional relations. Health care professionals should acknowledge OHI seeking and engage in discussions with patients to enable them to appreciate OHI, and to support shared decision making in health care. The professionals can utilize patient’s desire to learn as a resource for health prevention, promotion or treatment, and empowerment.

Community partnerships for health information training: medical librarians working with health-care professionals and consumers in Tennessee

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla L. Stephenson ◽  
Brenda F. Green ◽  
Richard L. Wallace ◽  
Martha F. Earl ◽  
Jan T. Orick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Community Partnerships

Cultural dynamics and tensions when applying design thinking for improving health-care quality

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Boström ◽  
Helene Hillborg ◽  
Johan Lilja
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Improving Health Care ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge concerning the dynamics and potential cultural tensions that occur when applying user involvement and design thinking (DT) for improving quality in a health-care setting. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a case study following a quality improvement (QI) project in a medium-sized Swedish county council in the field of somatic care. The project involved eight health-care professionals, one designer, four patients and two relatives. A multiple data collection method over a period of ten months was used. It included individual interviews, e-mail correspondence and observations of workshops that covered the QI project. Findings The result shows tensions between QI work and the daily clinical work of the participants. These tensions primarily concern the conflict between fast and slow processes, the problem of moving between different fields of knowledge, being a resource for the individual clinic and the system and the participants’ expectations and assumptions about roles and responsibilities in a QI project. Furthermore, these findings could be interpreted as signs of a development culture in the health-care context. Practical implications There are several practical implications. Among others, the insights can inspire how to approach and contextualize the current concepts, roles and methods of DT and user involvement so that they can be more easily understood and integrated into the existing culture and way of working in the health-care sector. Originality/value This study provides a unique insight into a case, trying to uncover what actually is going on and perhaps, why certain things are not happening at all, when user involvement and design practices are applied for improving health-care quality.

Health Care and the Silent Language of Vietnamese Immigrant Consumers

2002 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Rika Houston
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Beliefs ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Business Communication ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Communication Challenges ◽  
Physician Patient ◽  
Cultural Health Beliefs

Cultural contexting has long been an established part of the business communica tion vocabulary. Each cultural group possesses a deeply embedded "silent lan guage" that requires attention and provides communication challenges. In the busi ness of health care, this silent language can create tremendous challenges for the physician/patient communication process, especially when the physician and patient come from starkly different cultural backgrounds, an increasingly common scenario. Through focus groups with recent Vietnamese immigrants, we identified three salient factors in this silent language: cultural health beliefs, time orientation, and the expected role of family members in the practice of health care. Business communication instructors need to incorporate these factors as they prepare administrators and practitioners to communicate well as health care professionals.

scholarly journals Xigua Video as a Source of Information on Breast Cancer: Content Analysis

10.2196/19668 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. e19668
Author(s):  
Peng Pan ◽  
Changhua Yu ◽  
Tao Li ◽  
Xilei Zhou ◽  
Tingting Dai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Misleading Information ◽  
Global Quality ◽  
Information Group ◽  
Source Of Information

Background Seeking health information on the internet is a popular trend. Xigua Video, a short video platform in China, ranks among the most accessed websites in the country and hosts an increasing number of videos with medical information. However, the nature of these videos is frequently unscientific, misleading, or even harmful. Objective Little is known about Xigua Video as a source of information on breast cancer. Thus, the study aimed to investigate the contents, quality, and reliability of breast cancer–related content on Xigua Video. Methods On February 4, 2020, a Xigua Video search was performed using the keyword “breast cancer.” Videos were categorized by 2 doctors based on whether the video content provided useful or misleading information. Furthermore, the reliability and quality of the videos were assessed using the 5-point DISCERN tool and 5-point global quality score criteria. Results Out of the 170 videos selected for the study, 64 (37.6%) were classified as useful, whereas 106 (62.4%) provided misleading information. A total of 41.8% videos (71/170) were generated by individuals compared to 19.4% videos (33/170) contributed by health care professionals. The topics mainly covered etiology, anatomy, symptoms, preventions, treatments, and prognosis. The top topic was “treatments” (119/170, 70%). The reliability scores and global quality scores of the videos in the useful information group were high (P<.001). No differences were observed between the 2 groups in terms of video length, duration in months, and comments. The number of total views was higher for the misleading information group (819,478.5 vs 647,940) but did not reach a level of statistical significance (P=.112). The uploading sources of the videos were mainly health care professionals, health information websites, medical advertisements, and individuals. Statistical differences were found between the uploading source groups in terms of reliability scores and global quality scores (P<.001). In terms of total views, video length, duration, and comments, no statistical differences were indicated among the said groups. However, a statistical difference was noted between the useful and misleading information video groups with respect to the uploading sources (P<.001). Conclusions A large number of Xigua videos pertaining to breast cancer contain misleading information. There is a need for accurate health information to be provided on Xigua Video and other social media; health care professionals should address this challenge.

scholarly journals PATIENTS NEED TO RECEIVE THE SAME KIND OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAME ISSUE FROM EACH PROFESSIONAL

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 265-273
Author(s):  
Ilze Ansule ◽  
Anda Kīvīte - Urtāne ◽  
Inga Millere
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Maternity Hospital ◽  
Postnatal Period ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Women Living With Hiv ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Validated Instrument

The questionnaire has been developed from a validated instrument “Women’s Experience of Maternity Care” (author - National Health Service, (Great Britain, 2019) and adapted to the situation in Latvia. The permission to use it has been obtained from authors. The questionnaire is meant for women regardless of their health status during the perinatal period or who have no co-morbidities, diagnosed in perinatal period of care. The questionnaire is designed to find out patients' experiences of receiving healthcare and its compliance with the guidelines, identifying potential problems and creating opportunities to correct them. There were 50 patients in Maternity Hospital postpartum unit interviewed. 12 of them were women living with HIV. Results. One of five main comment themes was - patients felt the need to receive the same kind of information about the same issue from all health care professional regardless of staff changes on call. The women point out that they have no problems with content in communication process during intranatal period, at labor unit. The problem with different kind of information about the same matter is emerging in postpartum period, at maternity unit. This issue is bothering both groups of patients in postnatal period, those women who live with HIV and those who have no co-morbidities, diagnosed in perinatal period. This shows that there is different kind of knowledge and professional skills among health care professionals, even if they work in the same field, the same hospital and the same unit. There should be done more research to identify the source of this problem. Is it the different experience, knowledge, informational field where professionals seek for information or totally different reason for this phenomena. 

scholarly journals Survey of health informatics education in Finland in 2017

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Tolonen ◽  
Alpo Värri
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Technology Education ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health It ◽  
Health Care Workforce ◽  
Information Technology Education ◽  
It Education

The European Union and the USA collaborate in developing the skills of the application of information technology in the health care workforce. A part of this activity is a project which studies the gaps in the present education and proposes methods of filling these gaps. The objective of this paper is to identify the existing IT related education to the health care work force in Finland. A secondary objective was to get an impression of the experience and attitudes of the members of this workforce about health IT education. This paper presents the results of the survey of how information technology is educated to the students of the health care professions in Finland in the year 2017. In addition to literature search including also the study guides of many major health care professional education organizations, 24 telephone interviews of health care professionals in different fields in Finland were made. The results show that although basic information technology education is often available at every level of education, it is expected that the health care professionals learn to use the health information systems during their training periods or later in working life. The interviews showed that the given education varied considerably and some of the personnel had received no or only a little education on IT during studies. As the amount and quality of on-the-job information technology education varies, many health care professionals are not able to fully benefit from the information systems if their general feeling is that they just “survive” from daily activities with them. The results lead to suggest that the health professional degrees should contain at least a minimal amount of relevant health IT education which is tested with an exam and that the present health care workforce should receive ear-marked in-service training in the use of health information technology based on the needs of the individual.

Electronic Medical Record Infusion and Individual Performance: A Health Care Professional’s Perspective (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rai-Fu Chen ◽  
Ju-Ling Hsaio
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Personal Innovativeness ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Task

BACKGROUND Electronic medical records (EMRs) are integrated information sources generated by health care professionals (HCPs) from various health care information systems. EMRs play crucial roles in improving the quality of care and medical decision-making and facilitating cross-hospital health information exchange. Although many hospitals have invested considerable resources and efforts to develop EMRs for several years, the factors affecting the long-term success of EMRs, particularly in the EMR infusion stage, remain unclear. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effects of technology, user, and task characteristics on EMR infusion to determine which affect EMR infusion. In addition, we examined the effect of EMR infusion on individual performance. METHODS A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from HCPs with >6 months experience in using EMRs in a Taiwanese teaching hospital. A total of 316 questionnaires were distributed, and 211 complete copies were returned, yielding a valid response rate of 66.8%. The collected data were further analyzed using WarpPLS 5.0. RESULTS EMR infusion (R^2 = .771) was mainly affected by user habits (.411), portability (.217), personal innovativeness (.198), technostress (.169), and time criticality (.168), whereas individual performance (R^2 = .541) was affected by EMR infusion (.735). This finding indicated that user (habit, personal innovativeness, and technostress), technology (portability), and task (mobility and time criticality) characteristics have major effects on EMR infusion. Furthermore, the results indicated that EMR infusion positively affects individual performance. CONCLUSIONS The factors identified in this study can provide useful insights for the further improvement of EMR development in hospitals and by the government, specifically in its infusion stage. In addition, the developed instrument can be used as an assessment tool to identify the key factors for EMR infusion and evaluate the extent of EMR infusion and the individual performance of hospitals that have implemented EMR systems. Moreover, the results can help governments to understand the urgent needs of hospitals in implementing EMR systems, provide sufficient resources and support to improve the incentives of EMR development, and develop adequate EMR policies for the widespread use of health information exchanges and electronic health records.

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