Promoting oral health using social media platforms: Seeking Arabic online oral health related information (OHRI)

Sarah Almaiman*, Salwa Bahkali, Norah Alabdulatif, Ahlam Bahkaly, Khaled Al-Surimi, Mowafa Househ

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Access to oral health care services around the world is limited by a lack of universal coverage. The internet and social media can be an important source for patients to access supplementary oral health related information (OHRI). Online OHRI presents an opportunity to enhance dental public health education about innumerable oral health issues and promote dental self-care. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of social media users among the Saudi population and identify the preferred social media platform for seeking Arabic OHRI and its impact on seekers' knowledge, attitude, and behavior. A total of 2652 Twitter followers were surveyed, using a web-based self-Administered questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics and online OHRI seeking behavior More than two thirds, 67.7% (n= 1796), of the participants reported they were seeking Arabic online OHRI, while 41.1% of the participants reported they had no preference for using a specific social media platform. These results emphasize the need and importance of supporting the content of social media with trusted and high quality online OHRI resources to promote a high level of public awareness about oral health and dental health services. Further studies in this regard are highly recommended on a larger scale of nationalities to explore the role of social media platform preference in promoting health promotion and dental public health awareness.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUnifying the Applications and Foundations of Biomedical and Health Informatics
EditorsJohn Mantas, Mowafa S. Househ, Arie Hasman, Parisis Gallos, Aikaterini Kolokathi
PublisherIOS Press
Pages283-286
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781614996637
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event14th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2016 - Athens, Greece
Duration: 1 Jul 20163 Jul 2016

Publication series

NameStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume226
ISSN (Print)0926-9630
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8365

Conference

Conference14th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2016
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityAthens
Period1/07/163/07/16

Keywords

  • Oral health information
  • Oral hygiene.
  • Seeking health information
  • Social media

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