Scrolling although #birthcontrol on social media is sort of a field of candies. You by no means know what you’re going to get.
In a single video, a lady turns to disclose a dramatic weight achieve, blaming contraception tablets. In one other, healthcare suppliers (HCPs) carry out a choreographed dance holding vaginal rings. A 3rd submit says, “Contraception makes you date crappy males.”
Social media makes it straightforward to place a message — any message, actually — into the world, however media has lengthy influenced conversations about girls’s well being.
Melissa Jordan, a registered nurse, mentioned she remembers the extremely publicized Girls’s Well being Initiative research in 2002 that incorrectly mentioned taking estrogen causes breast most cancers. The outcomes of the poorly carried out research dominated the information and scared thousands and thousands of girls away from protected and efficient hormone remedy. Jordan mentioned some girls nonetheless imagine these outcomes as a result of there’s a variety of misinformation about girls’s well being on the market — particularly on social media.
“There’s little [accurate] data or training concerning menopause. I can solely think about that there’s even much less concerning sexual well being and contraception,” Jordan mentioned.
On one hand, social media gives extra accessibility to data total. Analysis reveals some girls, particularly youthful girls, look to social media for perception on necessary subjects like contraception.
However how are you aware what you’re listening to is true? And worse, what if it’s not?
Social media influencers and contraception
“Mis- and dis-information round contraception and sexual well being run rampant on social media,” mentioned Raegan McDonald-Mosley, M.D., MPH, CEO of the nonprofit group Energy to Determine.
It may be even tougher to inform what’s truth vs. fiction when it looks like the data is coming from a trusted buddy. Social media influencers — folks with a variety of followers — can play a component in swaying opinions about contraception. And unfavourable private experiences can lead folks to unfold misinformation.
For instance, one research discovered that influencers who had a unfavourable tone about hormonal contraception exaggerated the dangers and negative effects in comparison with non-hormonal choices.
“Readers ought to be involved as a result of hormonophobia [fear about hormones based on irrational causes] can gas misinformation and forestall girls from making knowledgeable reproductive healthcare selections,” mentioned Emily Pfender, an writer of the research and Ph.D. candidate on the College of Delaware.
One other research co-authored by Pfender discovered that influencers who talked about stopping hormonal contraception didn’t speak about substitute choices. “This sends a message to viewers that utilizing contraception just isn’t necessary and will promote dangerous conduct,” Pfender mentioned. “When influencers did begin a brand new contraception, it was most frequently fertility awareness-based strategies, which have excessive error charges and require particular data to make use of accurately.”
Social media and shared decision-making
In relation to making well being selections on your sexual and reproductive well being, it’s necessary to know the supply behind the data you’re taking in.
When doubtful, McDonald-Mosley mentioned to ask your self the next questions:
- Is the data from a reputable medical supply or supplier?
- Can you discover the identical data from one other trusted useful resource?
- When was the data you’re printed?
- Does the particular person’s perspective appear overly biased or political?
Robyn Faye, M.D., an OB-GYN and member of HealthyWomen’s Girls’s Well being Advisory Council, mentioned she turns to her trusted social community — science — when sufferers carry up questionable theories. “I’ll pull up the newest articles from the CDC database and present them the data I’ve,” she mentioned. “I actually simply must argue the purpose and, usually, it really works.”
Faye famous that the majority healthcare suppliers need to have an open dialog in regards to the unusual belongings you learn on social media. They need to take the time to share data and ask questions. This results in shared decision-making and discovering the most effective contraception possibility that works for you, your well being and your reproductive targets.
Nonetheless, it could be exhausting to alter somebody’s opinion in the event that they really feel strongly about what they’ve learn on-line. That is completely fantastic, Faye mentioned. However she cautioned towards placing an excessive amount of inventory in folks you don’t know.
Misinformation on social media can have a harmful impact on girls’s well being. But it surely doesn’t must be this fashion. Data is energy, and confirming any data or considerations together with your HCP will help you see the entire image — not only a small sq..
McDonald-Mosley mentioned too many individuals lack total data about reproductive and sexual well being as a result of they by no means discovered about it in class or the group. That is the place the constructive results of social media channels can shine by bridging the hole in accessible well being data.
“Social media just isn’t all unhealthy. It’s, the truth is, a strong software that can be utilized to achieve folks the place they’re with correct data they should take management of their reproductive and sexual well being.”
You’ll be able to’t belief all the things you learn on-line. However in case you do analysis and discuss to your HCP, you possibly can shield your self from misinformation.
This useful resource was created with assist from Organon, a HealthyWomen Company Advisory Council member.