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 acquire, blaming birth control pills. In one other, healthcare suppliers (HCPs) carry out a choreographed dance holding vaginal rings. A 3rd publish 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 Ladies’s Well being Initiative examine in 2002 that incorrectly mentioned taking estrogen causes breast most cancers. The outcomes of the poorly carried out examine dominated the information and scared hundreds of thousands of girls away from secure and efficient hormone therapy. 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 schooling relating to menopause. I can solely think about that there’s even much less relating to sexual well being and contraception,” Jordan mentioned.
On one hand, social media affords extra accessibility to data general. Research exhibits some girls, particularly youthful girls, look to social media for perception on vital matters 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 Power to Decide.
It may be even tougher to inform what’s reality vs. fiction when it seems like the data is coming from a trusted good friend. Social media influencers — individuals with a variety of followers — can play a component in swaying opinions about birth control. And unfavorable private experiences can lead individuals to unfold misinformation.
For instance, one study discovered that influencers who had a unfavorable tone about hormonal contraception exaggerated the dangers and unwanted side effects in comparison with non-hormonal choices.
“Readers needs to be involved as a result of hormonophobia [fear about hormones based on irrational causes] can gasoline misinformation and forestall girls from making knowledgeable reproductive healthcare choices,” mentioned Emily Pfender, an creator of the examine and Ph.D. candidate on the College of Delaware.
One other study co-authored by Pfender discovered that influencers who talked about stopping hormonal contraception didn’t speak about alternative choices. “This sends a message to viewers that utilizing contraception shouldn’t be vital 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 information to make use of accurately.”
Social media and shared decision-making
Relating to making well being choices on your sexual and reproductive well being, it’s vital to know the supply behind the data you’re taking in.
When unsure, 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 revealed?
- Does the particular person’s perspective appear overly biased or political?
Robyn Faye, M.D., an OB-GYN and member of HealthyWomen’s Women’s Health Advisory Council, mentioned she turns to her trusted social community — science — when sufferers deliver up questionable theories. “I’ll pull up the most recent articles from the CDC database and present them the data I’ve,” she mentioned. “I actually simply should argue the purpose and, normally, it really works.”
Faye famous that almost all healthcare suppliers need to have an open dialog concerning 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 very best contraception possibility that works for you, your well being and your reproductive objectives.
Nonetheless, it might be arduous to alter somebody’s opinion in the event that they really feel strongly about what they’ve learn on-line. That is completely superb, Faye mentioned. However she cautioned in opposition to placing an excessive amount of inventory in individuals you don’t know.
Misinformation on social media can have a harmful impact on girls’s well being. But it surely doesn’t should be this manner. Information is energy, and confirming any data or considerations together with your HCP can assist you see the whole image — not only a small sq..
McDonald-Mosley mentioned too many individuals lack general information about reproductive and sexual well being as a result of they by no means realized about it at school or the neighborhood. That is the place the constructive results of social media channels can shine by bridging the hole in accessible well being data.
“Social media shouldn’t be all dangerous. It’s, in actual fact, a strong device that can be utilized to achieve individuals the place they’re with correct data they should take management of their reproductive and sexual well being.”
You possibly can’t belief every thing you learn on-line. However for those who do analysis and speak to your HCP, you possibly can defend your self from misinformation.
This useful resource was created with assist from Organon, a HealthyWomen Company Advisory Council member.
