Laryngectomy: Social media analysis of patient perception.

Moffatt, David C.; Lahaye, Joshua J.; Corona, Kassandra K.; Rossi, Nicholas A.; Joshi, Rohan; Resto, Vicente; McKinnon, Brian J.; Coblens, Orly M.

Background: Social media continues to grow as a relevant information source for the lay public and medical professionals. Methods: A search of posts on Facebook and Instagram was conducted using the hashtag #laryngectomy. Posts were categorized based upon perspective, media type, timeframe, topic, tone, and popularity. Results: Final analysis included 929 Instagram posts and 355 Facebook posts. Most Facebook posts were made by companies (38%) and physicians (17%) with information (30%) and advertisements (22%) being common topics. Patients (40%) were the largest group of Instagram authors with lifestyle (39%) being the most common topic. Greater than 90% of posts were either neutral or positive in tone across both platforms. Conclusions: Patient perspective was most commonly represented on Instagram, whereas Facebook more commonly included posts by physicians and companies. The majority of posts carried a neutral or positive tone, which is consistent with positive quality of life patients have shown postoperatively.

SOCIAL media; PATIENTS' attitudes; LARYNGECTOMY; INFORMATION resources; QUALITY of life

Head & Neck, 2023, Vol 45, Issue 2, p464

1043-3074

Academic Journal

10.1002/hed.27261