Background

Social media is increasingly becoming a health resource for people suffering from complex and debilitating health conditions. A comprehensive understanding of how and why social media and the Internet are used among patients with chronic gynecologic pain will allow for the intentional development and incorporation of web-based tools into patient care plans.

Objective

This study aimed to determine whether gynecologic patients with pain are more likely to use social media and the Internet to understand and manage their condition than those without pain. The survey was designed to explore how gynecologic patients with and without pain use and interact with social media and other web-based health resources and the clinical, personal, and demographic factors influencing these behaviors.

Study Design

Patients presenting with a new complaint to a gynecologist at 1 of 6 Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery–affiliated hospital systems were screened, consented, and assigned to pain and no-pain groups. Participants were surveyed about social media and Internet use, symptoms, bother, physician selection, motivation, trust, and demographic information. Survey responses were compared using the Fisher exact tests, odds ratios, and risk ratios from standard tabular analysis, univariate or multivariate tests of means, and regression analyses, as appropriate.

Results

Of 517 participants included in the study, 475 (92%) completed the survey, 328 (69.1%) with pain and 147 (30.9%) without pain. Study participants in the pain group reported more than double the odds of using social media than those without pain (37.8% vs 19.7%; odds ratio, 2.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.54–3.96) and triple the odds of using the Internet (88.4% vs 69.4%; odds ratio, 3.37; 95% confidence, 2.04–5.56) to understand or manage their condition. Participants with pain were more likely than those without pain to engage in social media at a higher level (3.5 vs 1.7 on a scale of 0 to 10; P<.0001), be motivated by interpersonal elements of online engagement (Hotelling's T²=37.3; P<.0001), prefer an interactive component to their online health resource (35.6% vs 24.3%; risk ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.00–2.20; P=.0433), be influenced by others in their choice of a gynecologist (0.37 vs 0.32 on a scale of 0 to 1; P=.009), use social media as a coping tool (38.3% vs 17%; P=.0001), trust information found on social media (31.4% vs 16.7%; P=.0033), and trust other women with the same condition, informal health resources, and personal sources more and doctors and formal health resources less (P=.0083). Participants in both groups reported higher levels of social media engagement with higher levels of symptom bother (28% increase in engagement with every doubling of bother level (P<.0001).

Conclusion

Patients with gynecologic pain were more likely than those without pain to use social media and the Internet to understand and manage their condition. Patients with pain engaged in and trusted social media at a higher level, with engagement rising directly with bother level.

中文翻译：

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妇科盆腔疼痛患者的社交媒体使用、偏好和行为模式

背景

社交媒体正日益成为患有复杂和衰弱健康状况的人们的健康资源。全面了解如何以及为何在慢性妇科疼痛患者中使用社交媒体和互联网将有助于有意开发基于网络的工具并将其纳入患者护理计划。

客观的

本研究旨在确定有疼痛的妇科患者是否比没有疼痛的患者更有可能使用社交媒体和互联网来了解和管理他们的病情。该调查旨在探讨有和无疼痛的妇科患者如何使用和与社交媒体和其他基于网络的健康资源互动，以及影响这些行为的临床、个人和人口因素。

学习规划

在微创妇科手术附属医院系统的 6 人中，有 1 人向妇科医生提出新的投诉的患者被筛选、同意并分配到疼痛组和无痛组。参与者接受了关于社交媒体和互联网使用、症状、烦恼、医生选择、动机、信任和人口统计信息的调查。使用标准表格分析、单变量或多变量均值检验和回归分析（视情况而定）的 Fisher 精确检验、优势比和风险比对调查响应进行比较。

结果

在纳入研究的 517 名参与者中，475 人（92%）完成了调查，328 人（69.1%）有疼痛感，147 人（30.9%）无疼痛感。疼痛组的研究参与者报告说，使用社交媒体的几率是没有疼痛的人的两倍多（37.8% 对 19.7%；优势比，2.47；95% 置信区间，1.54-3.96），使用互联网的几率是三倍（ 88.4% 对 69.4%；优势比，3.37；95% 置信度，2.04-5.56）了解或管理他们的病情。有痛苦的参与者比没有痛苦的参与者更有可能以更高的水平参与社交媒体（3.5 vs 1.7，从 0 到 10；P <.0001），受到在线参与的人际因素的激励（Hotelling 的T ² = 37.3；P<.0001），更喜欢交互式组件而不是他们的在线健康资源（35.6% 对 24.3%；风险比，1.46；95% 置信区间，1.00–2.20；P =.0433），在选择一个妇科医生（0.37 vs 0.32，从 0 到 1；P =.009），使用社交媒体作为应对工具（38.3% vs 17%；P =.0001），信任社交媒体上的信息（31.4% vs 16.7 %; P =.0033)，并且更多地信任其他具有相同条件、非正式卫生资源和个人资源的女性，而更少信任医生和正式卫生资源 ( P=.0083)。两组的参与者都报告了更高水平的社交媒体参与和更高水平的症状困扰（每增加一倍的困扰水平，参与度增加 28%（P <.0001）。

结论

有妇科疼痛的患者比没有疼痛的患者更有可能使用社交媒体和互联网来了解和管理他们的病情。患有疼痛的患者在更高水平上参与并信任社交媒体，参与度直接随着烦恼水平而上升。