Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Nov 15, 2021
Date Accepted: Feb 9, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Feb 9, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Contrasting Social Media Use between Young Adults with IBD and Type 1 Diabetes: A cross sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The importance of patients' social media activities is being recognized by the medical community. Social media is used to gather information, join communities, and can serve as a window into patient perceptions of their chronic condition.
Objective:
This study aims to understand and compare the social media habits of young adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D). These chronic conditions differ in stigma and familiarity to the general public.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study of subjects from Boston Children’s Hospital outpatient IBD and diabetes clinics. Patients over the age of 18 were invited to complete a brief anonymous survey, which asked about the various ways they use several social media platforms.
Results:
A total of 108 patients were included evenly split across disease type. Eighty-three percent of participants spent at least 30 minutes per day on social media, most commonly on Instagram and Facebook. While the content varied based on the platform, patients with IBD posted or shared content related to their disease significantly less than those with T1D (38% vs 23%, P=0.02) Among Instagram users, IBD patients were less likely to engage with support groups (22% vs 56%, P=0.04). Among Twitter users, IBD patients were less likely to seek disease information (77% vs 29%, P=0.005) Among Facebook users, IBD patients were less likely to post about research and clinical trials (31% vs 65%, P=0.04) or for information seeking (49% vs 87%, P=0.003), IBD patients were also less likely to share their diagnosis with friends or family in person.
Conclusions:
Young adults with IBD were less willing to share diagnosis, post or explore disease on social media. This could lead to a sense of isolation and should be further explored.
Citation
