Nutrition-Related Messages Shared Among the Online Transgender Community: A Netnography of YouTube Vloggers

Dietary Supplement Use in Transmasculine People: Results of an Online Survey of Volunteer Adults

INTRODUCTION

Health inequities and disparities in nutrition research exist among transmasculine people. A dearth of evidence on dietary supplement use and motivations exist, partially due to constrained collection of sex and gender identity in national surveys.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to investigate common motivations and use of dietary supplements in a voluntary survey of transmasculine people.

METHODS

A total of 48 participants completed an online survey detailing dietary supplement use, motivations, and demographic information.

RESULTS

64.5 and 90.0% of participants reported use of 1+ dietary supplement within the past 30-days and during some point in their lifetime, respectively. Top reported product types used included multivitamins (52%), melatonin (52%), vitamin D (46%), vitamin C (35%), fish oil (33%), B-vitamins or B-complex (31%), iron (29%), green tea (29%), biotin (25%), cranberry (23%), zinc (23%), protein powder (23%), probiotics (23%), and calcium (21%). There was no relationship between the number of supplements reported and participant age, BMI, income, or mastectomy status (p > 0.05). Participants reported top motivations being for "improving my overall health" (60.4%), "maintaining health" (54.2%), to "supplement my diet due to not getting enough from food"(41.7%), "mental health" (39.6%), and to "prevent colds, boost immune system" (33.3%).

CONCLUSION

Transmasculine people in our study reported a high use of dietary supplements. Differences in the types of products and number of products used, as well as specific motivations for use likely exist within this subpopulation, however, future nationally-representative longitudinal studies are needed to fully elucidate these patterns and for informing evidence-based nutrition guidance.

Netnography: A novel methodology for nursing research

AIM

The aim of this paper is to critically reflect on our team's experience of using netnography to explore vaccine-hesitant parents and pregnant women, a group who have traditionally been difficult to recruit to research studies and a methodology that is underutilized in nursing research.

DESIGN

This paper takes the form of a discussion paper that will utilize data obtained from a qualitative netnographic study. Relevant literature was searched including 2015-2023.

METHOD

This paper utilized data obtained from a qualitative study that used netnography as methodology and an online minable data source. Netnography is a relatively new methodology that uses the online environment to explore digital cultures and study networked society. It pays particular attention to cultural insights and conditions that impact the human experience. This methodology is particularly relevant to nursing research which is often humanistic and always conducted to ensure optimal patient outcomes.

RESULTS

Using netnography for the first time has resulted in four main insights. These include the adaptability of the process; the creativity involved in designing the site; the ready acceptance of the site by participants and the co-creation knowledge that resulted.

CONCLUSIONS

Netnography is a creative methodology that was successful in accessing and engaging the vaccine-hesitant community, a group who are often marginalized. Netnography has the advantage of using a platform that is familiar and safe for many people and provides access to an extensive minable data source.

TransTok - An analysis of surgical gender affirmation content on TikTok

PURPOSE

Social media platforms are popular sources of medical information but may harbor harmful misinformation. This study aims to evaluate the effect of TikTok on the transgender population, which may be more likely to seek information from non-traditional sources because of high medical mistrust.

METHODS

Twenty gender affirmation related hashtags were queried, with the top 25 videos per hashtag included for analysis. Videos were categorized based on the content and creator. Variables included likes, comments, shares, and video views. All "educational" videos were analyzed for reliability of information using a modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) score and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PMAT). Kruskal-Wallis H tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and simple linear regression models were used in analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 429 videos amassed 571,434,231 views, 108,050,498 likes, 2,151,572 comments, and 190,9744 shares. Patients were the majority of content creators (74.88%), with patient experiences being the majority of videos (36.07%). Non-physician creators had significantly higher likes and comments when compared to physicians (6185 vs. 1645, p = 0.028; 108 vs. 47, p = 0.016 respectively). Sixty "educational" videos were included in information reliability analysis. There were no significant differences between video characteristics of different content creators, even after stratifying according to physician status. Significant differences were observed in the reliability of information according to PMAT and mDISCERN scores, with physician created videos being significantly higher rated than non-physician created videos (0.90 vs. 0.84, p < 0.001; 3 vs. 2, p < 0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Lower quality information is associated with non-physician content creators. We encourage physicians to be continuously involved in creating quality information on TikTok.

Expanding the limits of sex: a systematic review concerning food and nutrition in transgender populations

OBJECTIVE

To examine the literature and identify main themes, methods and results of studies concerning food and nutrition addressed in research on transgender populations.

DESIGN

A systematic review conducted through July 2020 in the MedLine/PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases.

RESULTS

Of the 778 studies identified in the databases, we selected thirty-seven. The studies were recent, most of them published after 2015, being produced in Global North countries. The most often used study design was cross-sectional; the least frequently used study design was ethnographic. Body image and weight control were predominant themes (n 25), followed by food and nutrition security (n 5), nutritional status (n 5), nutritional health assistance (n 1) and emic visions of healthy eating (n 1).

CONCLUSIONS

The transgender community presents body, food and nutritional relationships traversed by its unique gender experience, which challenges dietary and nutritional recommendations based on the traditional division by sex (male and female). We need to complete the lacking research and understand contexts in the Global South, strategically investing in exploratory-ethnographic research, to develop categories of analysis and recommendations that consider the transgender experience.