Social Media and Healthcare Decisions: Exploring the Influence - Research Paper

Introduction

Social media has significantly contributed to healthcare among women, especially mothers. They use it to make birth plans for their unborn babies, share information online with other mothers, and ask questions on various healthcare concerns (Asiodu et al., 2015). This aspect makes the information available on this platform purely opinion-based and not evidence-based. The phenomenon of interest is to explore how social media influence healthcare decisions, which regards to medical issues that affect the neonate delivery outcome. In a study to establish the harmful effects of social media, Smailhodzic, Hoojismam,Voonstra, and Langley found out six categories are information, social comparison, esteem, emotional, expression, network and support (2016). These categories also let to further discoveries of the effects of social media on the subjects.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The self-regulation theory framework can be applied to this phenomenon. Liu and Guo (2015), describe social media as a platform to gain a connection with other people. The theory elucidates how intentions relate to attitudes and behaviors. Liu and Guo applied the self-regulating framework to examine the factors of user loyalty in social media (2015). The context showed the mediating role of sense of belonging, service quality, trust, and loyalty to social media sites (DeJonckheere et al., 2019).

People turn to social media for many purposes. Women, especially mothers, turn to social media to maintain social ties and manage the stress associated with parenting roles and responsibilities. According to Pettigrew, Archer, and Harrigan (2016), the significance of mother's motivations for turning to social media is classified as either approach strategy which involves confronting a problem or avoidance strategy which consists in reducing stress by avoiding a problem. Expectant mothers turn to social media for guidance on how they should go about building a birth plan based on other's experiences. What has worked for one mother may not be the best scenario for another expectant mother. This information received through social media is mostly opinion based so, therefore, could be misleading and incorrect. (Pettigrew, Archer, & Harrigan, 2016)

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the perspectives of expectant mothers when seeking advice from others when making medical decisions regarding a birth plan. Expectant parents seek advice from family and friends when deciding on a birth plan. However, when discussing with parents where they receive information about their birth plan, it is usually from social media platforms such as blogs or groups (Hilty et al., 2018; Mangold & Faulds, 2019). Social media has become an outlet for expressing opinions that may not be evidence-based. According to Mangold and Faulds (2009), social media has become a significant factor in influencing consumer behavior, including awareness, opinions, and attitudes. The research of this topic is based on the personal experience of being the nurse advocate for neonates (Maher & Dertadian, 2018).

This study will be relevant to the field of women's health so that nurses can become aware of how a medical decision was made and if the information is in someone else's opinion or evidence-based. Data will be gathered on this topic from the local hospital's postpartum unit by developing a questionnaire to ask open-ended questions. All mothers will be given a survey to complete after delivery that will ask what decisions she chooses during pregnancy, labor, and delivery of her newborn. From the nurse's standpoint, this study will challenge personal beliefs and assumptions to improve the relationship between parents with birth plans and the healthcare team.

Qualitative Research Question

Main Question

What are the perspectives of expectant mothers toward resources such as social media in making a birth plan?

Other Questions

What are the perspectives of expectant mothers toward resources such as social media that would help make a birth plan?

What are the perspectives of expectant mothers towards resources such as social media that could be detrimental to making a birth plan?

Potential for Social Change

The results of this research study will have the potential for social change by helping healthcare staff understand why parents are making the choices they are when it comes to the delivery of their newborn. The problem to be addressed is where the parents get their information. This nurse has experienced first-hand how decisions are being made that are not evidenced based. Most parents report seeking medical advice through social media groups (Baker & Yang, 2018). If changes are made at the local level for parents to seek advice from a knowledgeable healthcare provider, the outcome of uneducated decisions will have better results for both the mother and infant.

References

Asiodu, I. V., Waters, C. M., Dailey, D. E., Lee, K. A., & Lyndon, A. (2015). Breastfeeding and Use of Social Media among First-Time African-American Mothers. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 44, 2, 268-278.

Baker, B., & Yang, I. (2018). Social media as social support in pregnancy and the postpartum. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare: Official Journal of the Swedish Association of Midwives, 17, 31-34.

DeJonckheere, M., Nichols, L. P., Vydiswaran, V. G. V., Zhao, X., Collins-Thompson, K., Resnicow, K., & Chang, T. (2019). Using Text Messaging, Social Media, andInterviews to Understand What Pregnant Youth Think About Weight Gain During Pregnancy. Jmir Formative Research, 3, 2.

Hilty, D. M., Zalpuri, I., Stubbe, D., Snowdy, C. E., Shoemaker, E. Z., Myint, M. T., Joshi, S. V., ... Liu, H. Y. (2018). Social Media/Networking and Psychiatric Education: Competencies, Teaching Methods, and Implications. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science: Official Journal of the Coalition for Technology in Behavioral Science, 3, 4, 268-293.

Liu, C., & Guo, M. (2015). The role of sense of belonging in social media usage: A tale of two types of users. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, 25(2), 211-233. https://doi.org/10.14329/apjis.2015.25.2.10Maher, L., & Dertadian, G. (2018). Qualitative research. Addiction, 113, 1, 167-172.

Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2019). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-365. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002

Niemczyk, E. (2018). Rethinking research education in globalized times: Perspectives of European post-doctoral fellows. Sodobna pedagogika, 69, 144-159.

Pettigrew, S., Archer, C., & Harrigan, P. (2016). A thematic analysis of mother's motivations forblogging. Maternal Child Health, 20(5), 1025-1031. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1887-7

Smailhodzic, E., Hoojisma, W., Boonstra, A., & Langley, D. J. (2016). Social media use inhealthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and their relationship with healthcare professionals. BMC Health Services Research, 16(442). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1691-0