Abstract
BackgroundWith the rise of mobile technology, an increasing number of people use mobile-based social media to access health information. Many scholars have explored the nature of health information on social media; however, the impact of such information on people was understudied.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the nature and impact of health information on mobile-based social media. Specifically, we investigated how the levels of threat and efficacy of breast cancer prevention information affect individuals’ engagement with the information, such as readings and likes.MethodsBreast cancer prevention articles posted on a Chinese mobile-based social media platform (ie, WeChat Subscription Account [WeChat SA]) from January 1 to December 31, 2017, were extracted using the Python Web Crawler. We used content analysis and analysis of covariance to analyze our data.ResultsThe results revealed that the vast majority of titles and main bodies of the articles involved one of the extended parallel process model components: threat or efficacy.ConclusionsBreast cancer prevention information on WeChat SA was well designed. Both threat and efficacy significantly affected the number of readings, whereas only efficacy had a significant effect on the number of likes. Moreover, breast cancer prevention information that contained both high levels of threat and efficacy gained the largest number of readings and likes.
Highlights
BackgroundWith the rise of mobile technology, an increasing number of people use mobile-based social media to access health information, for example, seeking social support from others and inquiring of medical professionals
The results revealed that the vast majority of titles and main bodies of the articles involved one of the extended parallel process model components: threat or efficacy
The results showed that 82.1% (441/537) article titles involved one of the extended parallel process model (EPPM) components: threat or efficacy
Summary
With the rise of mobile technology, an increasing number of people use mobile-based social media to access health information, for example, seeking social support from others and inquiring of medical professionals. In China, WeChat has become the most widely and frequently used mobile-based social media platform and is a crucial part of Chinese people’s daily lives [1]. With the high incidence and mortality rate of breast cancer in China [2], many breast cancer–related SAs were created on WeChat to provide a variety of information regarding breast cancer prevention. A number of studies have explored the nature of health information on social media. With the rise of mobile technology, an increasing number of people use mobile-based social media to access health information. Many scholars have explored the nature of health information on social media; the impact of such information on people was understudied
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