Health communication processes in social media: towards a transformative intervention on the information about chronic pain

Identifier:  TDX:3330

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3330

Authors:  Sendra Toset, Anna

Abstract:
Chronic pain is a complex condition, and patients who suffer from it have to deal regularly with added problems like disbelief, isolation, or stigmatization. In this respect, social media arose as platforms where these individuals found spaces to freely express the pain they were experiencing, and where they started to form online support communities to share their concerns with other pain patients who were suffering from the same disturbing illness. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to critically examine the processes of pain communication in social media both from the logic of health-related institutions and from the perspective of chronic pain patients. These exchanges of information are reviewed using two exploratory methodologies on Twitter and Instagram, establishing first the state of the art of social media health communication policies of health-related organizations. After evaluating these processes independently, it is explored how social support theory could improve the interactions between physicians and pain patients in these online platforms. This thesis points out that both stakeholders are using social media platforms differently, and without interacting with each other. However, the principles of social support theory applied to the use of these online spaces are showing opening capabilities to be approached with the purpose of improving the communicative gap between patients and physicians in these networked platforms. This thesis concludes that the use of social media could enhance both the management and assessment of this invisible and poorly communicated condition.