A study of the portrayal of information related to (central) auditory processing disorder on social media

Abstract

Purpose: Individuals and family members of people with health-related conditions such as suspected or diagnosed (central) auditory processing disorder ((C)APD), often turn to social media to gain information, find support and connect with peers and professionals as they navigate through their challenges. The purpose of this investigation was to study the portrayal of (C)APD related information on social media platforms.Method: Information related to (C)APD on popular social media platforms like Facebook (pages and groups), Twitter, YouTube and Instagram was systematically categorized, quantified and analysed. Keywords ‘central auditory processing disorder’ and ‘auditory processing disorder’ were used to identify and categorize posts across the platforms. Social media metrics such as ‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘members’, ‘subscribers’, ‘views’ and ‘comments’ were utilized to study trends.Results: Instagram, YouTube and Facebook Pages were popular among service provides, were used for sharing information as well as personal stories. YouTube was popular for sharing videos of assessment and management of (C)APD. We found significant differences on the Kruskal–Wallis test with post-hoc Bonferroni corrections between different functional categories of YouTube videos based on the number of likes, views, comments and the interaction quotient. Facebook groups served as virtual support groups and we did not find significant differences between public and closed groups with respect to membership on the Mann–Whitney U test (p = .085). Instagram and Twitter were popular for sharing research.Conclusion: This investigation reveals that people in the (C)APD community leave their digital footprints via popular social media websites. Such information could be utilized by audiologists and speech language pathologists in counselling and for promoting authentic and reliable information. Also, this study provides insights regarding sharing research related findings and communicating with academicians/scientists via social media.