Health education on instagram: help or hype?

In recent years, Instagram has become the most popular tool among professional doctors in Azerbaijan for educating their patients. The use of the Instagram application aims to raise patients' awareness of the importance of taking care of their health and to increase their knowledge about their health conditions using modern services. This research aimed to evaluate the efficacy and quality of medical content on Instagram as a health education tool. We conducted a survey to collect anonymous data from more than 205 respondents and summarized the following points. It included both closed-ended questions involving Likert scales. Students received a request to take part in the study by email from the researchers. The survey consisted of a series of questions related to Instagram usage for health information, perceived benefits, and content preferences. 65% of the respondents were already obtaining health information from Instagram before participating in the study. 15.1% of them frequently visit Instagram for health information while 5% had found the health information accessed there harmful. 71% of respondents think accessing health information in this way is beneficial but that the quality and usefulness of the content are average. 95% of respondents reported that the health information they obtained from the identical platform was not causing them any harm. The medical information shared on Instagram is generally considered useful and beneficial by the population, but it is desirable to improve the quality of the content.

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