Use of Facebook to Serve Information Needs of Persons with Diabetes amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Iris Thiele Isip-Tan College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila
  • Jerico Gutierrez Community General Hospital of San Pablo City
  • Diane Carla Bernardo Davao Doctors Hospital

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15605/jafes.035.01.09

Keywords:

social media, health information, FB, diabetes mellitus, COVID-19

Abstract

*Visual Abstracts prepared by Dr. Jerico Gutierrez

Objectives. The use of Facebook (FB) to share and gather information on diabetes is commonplace but no data is available on its use among Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to determine the engagement from instructional slide decks on diabetes and its management shown on two Philippine-based FB pages under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).


Methodology. We used Insights data from the slide decks and slide shows shown on the Philippine Society of
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism’s (PSEDM) public FB page and the Endocrine Witch’s FB page. The slide set contained a mix of mostly images and text on COVID-19 and Diabetes, dietary advice, medications and self-care in the setting of the ECQ where access to insulin, ambulatory clinics and healthy food is limited. Data was summarized in terms of post clicks, reactions, shares and comments. Total engagement rate was computed.


Results. We noted a high engagement rate (4-15%) in both public FB pages with higher engagement rates in slides shown in the Filipino language for most topics. The slides that gathered more shares and reactions were primarily those containing general information on COVID-19 and diabetes, nutrition including the safety of canned goods, as well as sick day rules.


Conclusion. In the setting of the ECQ, the use of image and text-based slide-decks on the PSEDM and Endocrine Witch FB pages to communicate health information yielded high engagement.

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Published

2020-05-27

How to Cite

Isip-Tan, I. T., Gutierrez, J., & Bernardo, D. C. (2020). Use of Facebook to Serve Information Needs of Persons with Diabetes amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies, 35(1), 32–37. https://doi.org/10.15605/jafes.035.01.09

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