Parental Concerns Regarding Bracing Compliance for Children With Clubfoot: Seeking Support on Facebook

Background Clubfoot treatment requires a period of bracing until early childhood to maintain the initial correction achieved by Ponseti casting and serial manipulations. During this period, bracing compliance is the most important factor in preventing the relapse of clubfoot deformity. This period can be challenging for parents, given several factors that affect treatment adherence. In recent years, social media has opened up new ways to seek guidance from an online community, including health-focused areas such as congenital clubfoot. This study examines bracing-related concerns that arise during clubfoot treatment that lead caregivers to seek support from online forums like Facebook. Methodology Six Facebook clubfoot support groups with the highest number of clubfoot posts were evaluated to identify the relative proportion and content of posts related to bracing compliance during December 2021. Bracing-related concerns across all identified posts were then organized into the following six domains that may affect the child's bracing adherence: physical, psychological, commercial, social, bracing device-related, and parental. Results In December 2021, there were 442 total posts across the six clubfoot-focused Facebook groups analyzed. Of these, 23.1% of posts were directly related to bracing compliance. Approximately 22% of these posts had responses where at least one fellow parent suggested seeking advice from a healthcare professional. When these root concerns were organized into six domains that can affect the child's bracing compliance, we found 49 physical, 26 psychological, 5 commercial, 0 social, 14 bracing device-related, and 8 parental factors. Conclusions In this study, 23.1% of all analyzed Facebook posts involved discussion about brace-related concerns, making this a significant topic of discussion on online parental forums. Facebook groups create a community and provide emotional support to parents that support bracing compliance. Clubfoot physicians should be aware of key parental concerns related to bracing compliance, and physicians can provide education on bracing that provides accurate information and anticipatory counseling during regular check-ups with patients and their families.