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Understanding sunscreen and photoprotection misinformation on parenting blogs: A mixed-method study
Mila A Tamminga1, Jules B Lipoff2
1Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Background/Objectives:
Sun exposure during childhood is a modifiable risk factor for skin cancer. Social media (including parenting blogs) represent promising platforms for understanding misinformation about pediatric photoprotection. This study's objective was to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the digital social context of parenting blogs that shape parents' decisions about children's photoprotection.
Methods:
Mixed-method analysis was conducted of the 25 most popular parenting blogs in the USA, including 56 blog posts addressing photoprotection and 2661 comments. An inductive method was used to code and identify key themes associated with blog post categorization as sunscreen-encouraging, -discouraging, and -ambivalent. The qualitative analysis program NVivo was used to calculate descriptive statistics for comment codes based on co-occurrence with blog post category.
Results:
Sunscreen-discouraging posts addressed natural remedies, sunscreen recipes, and vitamin D. Sunscreen-encouraging posts focused on skin cancer and protective clothing. Sunscreen-ambivalent posts were associated with scientific studies. Sunscreen-discouraging posts received more comments (mean 124) than encouraging (31) or ambivalent posts (8). Discouraging (65%) and ambivalent posts (75%) cited scientific literature more often than encouraging posts (14%). Comments were twice as likely to discourage photoprotection as to encourage it (1340 vs 447 comments).
Conclusions:
Parenting blogs are a substantial resource of both information and misinformation on pediatric photoprotection. However, misinformation receives substantially more engagement. The themes revealed in this study may help physicians and public health officials in developing interventions to target misinformation around pediatric photoprotection.
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