Social Media Patient Engagement in Healthcare: An Italian Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how health organizations use social media to engaging patients in the process of their health, care, and treatment and how this platform can facilitate the value co-creation processes in healthcare context. In order to understand how healthcare organizations are adopting social media technologies to address the challenges they face, the paper presents the results of a content analysis of comments, information and videos posted on the Facebook pages of an Italian healthcare organization. Although there are high expectations that the use of social media will provide more patient centred care, there is currently little evidence within the academic literature showing the health benefits of the use of social media by patients and healthcare institutions. The findings of this study have important implications for public healthcare organizations in order to understand how implement social media engagement and establish procedures to facilitate the process.