ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2025
Promoting Public Engagement in Palliative and End-of-Life Care Discussions on Chinese Social Media: Model Development and Analysis.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Chinese traditional culture, discussions surrounding death are often considered taboo, leading to a poor quality of death, and limited public awareness and knowledge about palliative and end-of-life care (PEoLC). However, the increasing prevalence of social media in health communication in China presents an opportunity to promote and educate the public about PEoLC through online discussions.
objectiveThis study aimed to examine the factors influencing public engagement in PEoLC discussions on a Chinese social media platform and develop practice recommendations to promote such engagement.
methodsWe gathered 30,811 PEoLC-related posts on Weibo, the largest social media platform in China. Guided by the elaboration likelihood model, our study examined factors across 4 dimensions: content theme, mood, information richness, and source credibility. Content theme was examined using thematic analysis, while sentiment analysis was used to determine the mood of the posts. The impact of potential factors on post engagement was quantified using negative binomial regression.
resultsOrganizational accounts exhibited lower engagement compared to individual accounts (incidence rate ratio [IRR]<1; P<.001), suggesting an underuse of organizational accounts in advocating for PEoLC on Weibo. Posts centered on PEoLC-related entertainment (films, television shows, and books; IRR=1.37; P<.001) or controversial social news (IRR=1.64; P<.001) garnered more engagement, primarily published by individual accounts. An interaction effect was observed between content theme and post mood, with posts featuring more negative sentiment generally attracting higher public engagement, except for educational-related posts (IRR=2.68; P<.001).
conclusionsOverall, organizations faced challenges in capturing public attention and involving the public when promoting PEoLC on Chinese social media platforms. It is imperative to move beyond a traditional mode to incorporate cultural elements of social media, such as engaging influencers, leveraging entertainment content and social news, or using visual elements, which can serve as effective catalysts in attracting public attention. The strategies developed in this study are particularly pertinent to nonprofit organizations and academics aiming to use social media for PEoLC campaigns, fundraising efforts, or research dissemination.
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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.