JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic and the confinement that was implemented in Argentina generated a need to implement innovative tools for the strengthening of diabetes care. Diabetes self-management education is a core element of diabetes care; however, because of COVID-19 restrictions, in-person diabetes educational activities were suspended. Social networks have played an instrumental role in this context as we implemented social media interventions to provide diabetes self-management education in two cities of Argentina to help persons with diabetes in their daily self-management.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to describe the structure, design and implementation of two-diabetes education modalities (synchronous and asynchronous) using the social media platform Facebook and to explore the use and content of the messages posted by persons with diabetes and their families in Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement.

Methods:

We explored two modalities of e-learning (synchronous and asynchronous) for diabetes education that used social media pages of health institutions in Chaco and La Rioja, Argentina during a context of confinement through a qualitative design. Social metrics indicators and the content of the messages posted by users were analysed.

Results:

A total of 332 messages were analyzed. It was found that in the asynchronous modality there was an important number of visualizations, while in the synchronous modality there were more posts and interaction between educators and users. It was observed that the number of views increased when primary care clinics were incorporated as disseminators, sharing educational videos from the sessions through social media. Positive aspects were observed in the posts, based on messages of thanks and, to a lesser extent, reaffirmations, reflections or personal experiences and consultations related with the subject treated. Another relevant finding was that the role of educator/moderator had a greater presence in the synchronous modality, where posts were based on motivation for participation, help to resolve connectivity problems, and answers to specific user queries.

Conclusions:

Our findings show positive contributions of an educational intervention for diabetes care using the Facebook social media platform in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although each modality (synchronous vs asynchronous) could have differential and particular advantages. We believe that these strategies have potential to be replicated and adapted to other contexts. However, more documented experiences are needed to explore their sustainability and long-term impact from the users' perspective.