The Role of Social Networks, Medical–Legal Climate, and Patient Advocacy on Surgical Options: A New Era

The use of Instagram by gynecologic oncology providers as a patient education tool for patients at high-risk of gynecologic cancer

Social media outlets have increased in popularity within the last decade and are influencing the ways in which patients interact with the healthcare system. The objective of this study is to examine the presence of gynecologic oncology divisions on Instagram and to analyze the content of their posts. Secondary objectives included examining and analyzing the use of Instagram as a tool for patient education among people at increased genetic risk of gynecologic cancers. Seventy-one NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, their gynecologic oncology divisions and hereditary gynecologic cancer related posts were searched on Instagram. Content was reviewed and authorship was analyzed. Of the 71 NCI-designated Cancer Centers, 29 (40.8 %) had Instagram accounts, whereas, four (6 %) gynecologic oncology divisions had Instagram accounts. The search of the seven most common gynecologic oncology genetic terms yielded 126,750 posts with the majority under BRCA1(n = 56,900) and BRCA2 (n = 45,000) followed by Lynch syndrome (n = 14,700) and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (n = 8,900). In terms of authorship, 93 (66 %) of all top 140 posts were written by patients, 20 (14.2 %) were written by health care providers and 27 (19.3 %) were written by "other." This study highlights the lack of presence of divisions of gynecologic oncology at NCI-designated Cancer Centers on Instagram but does demonstrate the existence of active discussion on hereditary gynecologic cancers on Instagram by patients.

Social Media in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery: What Is #Trending on Instagram?

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Patients share and obtain healthcare-related information on social media platforms. We aim to evaluate the authorship and content of, as well as engagement with, gynecologic topics posted on Instagram.

DESIGN

Qualitative and quantitative retrospective content analysis.

SETTING

Instagram.

PATIENTS

Not applicable.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

A query of endometriosis, adenomyosis, myomas, and hysterectomy yielded 237 hashtags. The top 10 and most recent 20 posts, as determined by Instagram's internal algorithm, were evaluated for 10 hashtags with the most posts. The most popular topic was endometriosis. Of the 300 posts evaluated, 97.3% were by authored by nonhealthcare individuals. The most common content for nonhealthcare authored posts was personal experience (30.67%). Educational content accounted for 4.6% posts and had the greatest average engagement by number of "likes;" 0 educational posts were authored by a healthcare provider.

CONCLUSION

The majority of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery related Instagram posts are regarding endometriosis, are authored by patients, and discuss personal experience. Official healthcare presence was lacking.