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KMID : 1100520230290010031
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Healthcare Informatics Research
2023 Volume.29 No. 1 p.31 ~ p.39
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Use of Social Media to View and Post Dentistry-related Information in Bahrain: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Sivaramakrishnan Gowri
AbdulAmeer Fatema
Faisal Fatema
Mansoor Zainab
Hasan Sawsan
Ebrahim Shagra
AlSalihi Leena
Alsobaiei Muneera
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Abstract
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Objectives: Healthcare-related information sharing via social media is on the rise following the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic. Dental practices primarily use social media to search, share, and communicate health-related information. Considering the increasing trend of using social media, the primary aim of the present study was to identify theuse of social media by dentists and laypeople to post and view dentistry-related content in Bahrain.
Methods: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study included adult participants and dentists. A pretested validated questionnaire was administered. The chi-square test for association was used to assess the association between categorical outcomes. A p-value of ≤ 0.05was considered statistically significant.
Results: In total, 249 adult participants and 53 dentists were included. A substantialmajority (83.5%) of the participants reported that they always used social media to view dentistry-related content, and 69.8%of the dentists felt that patients who use social media have better oral health awareness. A longer duration of social mediausage showed significant associations with particularly viewing dentistry-related content (p = 0.008) and contacting dentistsdirectly through social media for consultation (p = 0.055).
Conclusions: An extremely high percentage of the younger populationin Bahrain is using various social media to discuss dentistry. This engagement should be wisely managed to promotedentistry-related information sharing, which can lead to increased awareness related to overall dental health. There is a definiteneed to enforce certain standard operating procedures in every country that will prevent the misuse of this technologicaladvancement.
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KEYWORD
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Social Media, Dental Health Education, Dentist Patient Relations, Internet, Access to Health Care
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