Social media conversations about community water fluoridation: formative research to guide health communication

Mackert, Michael; Bouchacourt, Lindsay; Lazard, Allison J.; Wilcox, Gary B.; Kemp, Deena; Kahlor, Lee Ann; George, Caren; Stewart, Beth; Wolfe, Josefine Ortiz

doi:10.1111/jphd.12404

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this scenario, online false or misleading content propagates the discouragement of the consumption of fluoride-containing water and oral care products concerning their relevance, safety, and harmful consequences [ 14 ]. Notably, antifluoridation information is broadly shared on social media, deceiving people against fluoride’s economic and health benefits [ 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of False or Misleading Fluoride Content on Instagram: Infodemiology Study

Lotto¹,

Menezes²,

Hussain³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Online false or misleading oral health–related content has been propagated on social media to deceive people against fluoride’s economic and health benefits to prevent dental caries. Objective The aim of this study was to characterize the false or misleading fluoride-related content on Instagram. Methods A total of 3863 posts ranked by users’ total interaction and published between August 2016 and August 2021 were retrieved by CrowdTangle, of which 641 were screened to obtain 500 final posts. Subsequently, two independent investigators analyzed posts qualitatively to define their authors’ interests, profile characteristics, content type, and sentiment. Latent Dirichlet allocation analysis topic modeling was then applied to find salient terms and topics related to false or misleading content, and their similarity was calculated through an intertopic distance map. Data were evaluated by descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, the Cramer V test, and multiple logistic regression models. Results Most of the posts were categorized as misinformation and political misinformation. The overperforming score was positively associated with older messages (odds ratio [OR]=3.293, P<.001) and professional/political misinformation (OR=1.944, P=.05). In this context, time from publication, negative/neutral sentiment, author’s profile linked to business/dental office/news agency, and social and political interests were related to the increment of performance of messages. Although political misinformation with negative/neutral sentiments was typically published by regular users, misinformation was linked to positive commercial posts. Overall messages focused on improving oral health habits, side effects, dentifrice containing natural ingredients, and fluoride-free products propaganda. Conclusions False or misleading fluoride-related content found on Instagram was predominantly produced by regular users motivated by social, psychological, and/or financial interests. However, higher engagement and spreading metrics were associated with political misinformation. Most of the posts were related to the toxicity of fluoridated water and products frequently motivated by financial interests.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of False or Misleading Fluoride Content on Instagram: Infodemiology Study

Lotto¹,

Menezes²,

Hussain³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social media is an effective tool to communicate with an audience, and by studying web-based conversations, researchers can understand what individuals care about and want to share with the world. Social media is a useful tool to understand people’s experiences, and in a health context, the insights obtained from social media analyses can be used to guide public health messages and efforts [ 3 - 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web-Based Conversations Regarding Fathers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Content Analysis

Bouchacourt

Henson-Garcia

Sussman

et al. 2023

JMIR Pediatr Parent

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Studies of new and expecting parents largely focus on the mother, leaving a gap in knowledge about fathers. Objective This study aimed to understand web-based conversations regarding new and expecting fathers on social media and to explore whether the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the web-based conversation. Methods A social media analysis was conducted. Brandwatch (Cision) captured social posts related to new and expecting fathers between February 1, 2019, and February 12, 2021. Overall, 2 periods were studied: 1 year before and 1 year during the pandemic. SAS Text Miner analyzed the data and produced 47% (9/19) of the topics in the first period and 53% (10/19) of the topics in the second period. The 19 topics were organized into 6 broad themes. Results Overall, 26% (5/19) of the topics obtained during each period were the same, showing consistency in conversation. In total, 6 broad themes were created: fatherhood thoughts, fatherhood celebrations, advice seeking, fatherhood announcements, external parties targeting fathers, and miscellaneous. Conclusions Fathers use social media to make announcements, celebrate fatherhood, seek advice, and interact with other fathers. Others used social media to advertise baby products and promote baby-related resources for fathers. Overall, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to have little impact on the excitement and resiliency of new fathers as they transition to parenthood. Altogether, these findings provide insight and guidance on the ways in which public health professionals can rapidly gather information about special populations—such as new and expecting fathers via the web—to monitor their beliefs, attitudes, emotional reactions, and unique lived experiences in context (ie, throughout a global pandemic).

show abstract

“…About 12% of e-patients use Twitter or other social media sites to share health-related updates about themselves or to see others’ health-related updates [ 9 ]. As more people use social media like Twitter for health information, the platform provides a venue to identify public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to cancer [ 10 ]. Social media are a great source of useful data for oral health and care [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discourse about human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) on Twitter: Lessons for public health education about OPC and dental care

Chung¹,

Mustapha

Jiang

et al. 2022

Public Health in Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social media conversations about community water fluoridation: formative research to guide health communication

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Characterization of False or Misleading Fluoride Content on Instagram: Infodemiology Study

Characterization of False or Misleading Fluoride Content on Instagram: Infodemiology Study

Web-Based Conversations Regarding Fathers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Content Analysis

Discourse about human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) on Twitter: Lessons for public health education about OPC and dental care

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About