Outcomes of social media debate among health professionals: A qualitative analysis

Tribune, G.H. Int J Health. 2020. Feb 15(1) 30-35

AIM & BACKGROUND: Debate over best practice among Healthcare Professionals has flourished with the advent of social media platforms. The aim of this study was to investigate outcomes of social media debate among Health Professionals.

METHOD: A debate provoking question was published to a popular social media discussion group for Health Professionals. The group incorporated an array of professions including Physiotherapists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Massage Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Transcripts of the debate comments were recorded, analysed and distributed across five categories spanning a spectrum of agreement / disagreement.

RESULTS: 12.0% of comments were assigned to category I (Strongly agree: “this guy totally fucking gets it”). 0.0% of comments were assigned to category II ( Mostly agree: “don’t agree strongly enough to bother posting a comment”). 0.0% of comments were assigned to category III (Ambivalent: “no point in posting comment”). 0.0% of comments were assigned to category IV (Mostly disagree: “don’t disagree strongly enough to bother posting a comment”). 88% of comments were assigned to category V (Strongly disagree: “I can’t believe this shitbag has a license to practice. People like this are the reason the healthcare system is so fucked. When will pricks like this open their eyes and get on board with best practice”).

CONCLUSION: Our data support the contention that social media platforms are shithouse facilitators of useful debate. Health Professionals who engage in longwinded, circular arguments in the comments section of said platforms should given themselves an uppercut.

KEYWORDS: social media; health professional; shitbag; debate