Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic.
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 pe...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-04-01
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| Series: | PLOS Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000802 |
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| author | Gemma Postill Neesha Hussain-Shamsy Stephanie Dephoure Alison Wong Eliane M Shore Jeanette Cooper Negin Pak Christine Fahim Danielle Kasperavicius Tali Bogler |
| author_facet | Gemma Postill Neesha Hussain-Shamsy Stephanie Dephoure Alison Wong Eliane M Shore Jeanette Cooper Negin Pak Christine Fahim Danielle Kasperavicius Tali Bogler |
| author_sort | Gemma Postill |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-01ecb4579995402f9f6f2e54703f4c10 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2767-3170 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLOS Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-01ecb4579995402f9f6f2e54703f4c102025-08-20T02:26:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLOS Digital Health2767-31702025-04-0144e000080210.1371/journal.pdig.0000802Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic.Gemma PostillNeesha Hussain-ShamsyStephanie DephoureAlison WongEliane M ShoreJeanette CooperNegin PakChristine FahimDanielle KasperaviciusTali BoglerSocial 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.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000802 |
| spellingShingle | Gemma Postill Neesha Hussain-Shamsy Stephanie Dephoure Alison Wong Eliane M Shore Jeanette Cooper Negin Pak Christine Fahim Danielle Kasperavicius Tali Bogler Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. PLOS Digital Health |
| title | Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. |
| title_full | Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. |
| title_short | Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic. |
| title_sort | evaluation of a canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000802 |
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