ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2019
Effects of Mock Facebook Workday Comments on Public Perception of Professional Credibility: A Field Study in Canada.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perception of e-professionalism of doctors of medicine and doctors of dental medicine among the general population in Croatia.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- Evaluation of the impact of orthodontists' smile with malocclusions on social media and professional credibility.Clinical oral investigations · 2024Article
- Orthodontics social media, perceptions of science- and non-science-based posts among orthodontists, dentists, students and laypeople.PloS one · 2023Article
- Defining Potentially Unprofessional Behavior on Social Media for Health Care Professionals: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR medical education · 2022Article
- Social media usage of chinese nursing students: Attitudes, motivations, mental health problems, and self-disclosure.PloS one · 2022Article
- The effects of images posted to social media by orthodontists on public perception of professional credibility and willingness to become a client.Progress in orthodontics · 2021Article
- Social media in cardiovascular medicine: a contemporary review.European heart journal. Digital health · 2020Review
- A New Application of Social Impact in Social Media for Overcoming Fake News in Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is considerable discussion of risks to health professionals' reputations and employment from personal social media use, though its impacts on professional credibility and the health professional-client relationship are unknown.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to test the extent to which workday comments posted to health professionals' personal Facebook profiles influence their credibility and affect the professional-client relationship.
methodsIn a controlled field study, participants (members of the public) reviewed randomly assigned mock Facebook profiles of health professionals. The 2×2×2 factorial design of mock profiles included gender (female/male), health profession (physician/veterinarian), and workday comment type (evident frustration/ambiguous). Participants then rated the profile owner's credibility on a visual analog scale. An analysis of variance test compared ratings. Mediation analyses tested the importance of credibility ratings on participants' willingness to become a client of the mock health professional.
resultsParticipants (N=357) rated health professionals whose personal Facebook profile showed a comment with evident frustration rather than an ambiguous workday comment as less credible (P<.001; mean difference 11.18 [SE 1.28]; 95% CI 8.66 to 13.70). Furthermore, participants indicated they were less likely to become clients of the former when they considered credibility (standardized beta=.69; P<.001). Credibility explained 86% of the variation in the relationship between the type of workday comment and the participant's willingness to become a client of the health professional.
conclusionsThis study provides the first evidence of the impact of health professionals' personal online disclosures on credibility and the health relationship. Public perceptions about professionalism and credibility are integral to developing the evidence base for e-professionalism guidelines and encouraging best practices in social media use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.