Doc on the Tok: How BIPOC College Students Perceive Healthcare Professionals' Social Media Content

Abstract

90% of the U.S. population interacts with health information on social media. While access to this information can be important to those who experience financial, geographical, and logistical barriers to receiving medical care, social media is also a source of health-related misinformation and disinformation that can cause/exacerbate serious harm. One of many proposed initiatives to combat medical misinformation online is for healthcare professionals to create their own channels and disseminate health information based on their professional expertise on platforms like TikTok. But how do users, particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who are more likely to experience harm and neglect in medical settings due to systemic racism in the US, perceive the quality of the information healthcare professionals create? This poster paper is the first step in a larger research project to explore this phenomenon in which we: present a preliminary literature review, identify two gaps, and propose a qualitative study to explore BIPOC college students' perceptions of social media content created by healthcare professionals on popular, short-form video platforms.