Can college women identify contraceptive misinformation found on TikTok?

Social media is frequently used in the United States, with college-age women often accessing TikTok. Misinformation about reproductive health and contraception is common on TikTok, making it important for users to be able to differentiate factual and false information to avoid unintended consequences.

The primary objective of this study was to determine college women's ability to identify misinformation about reproductive health and contraception found on TikTok. The secondary objective was to examine the impact of a student pharmacist-led educational intervention on participants' knowledge and self-reported confidence to assess the quality of information found online.

Statements about contraception, emergency contraception, and folic acid found on TikTok were collected and fact-checked using evidence-based literature to identify misinformation. A pretest with 9 knowledge-based questions based on TikTok content and one question assessing confidence in evaluating online health information was administered to undergraduate women attending a private university in the rural Midwest. After a student pharmacist-led educational intervention covering reproductive health, contraception, and the SIFT framework (Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims to the original context) to discern credible online content, participants took the post-test containing identical knowledge and confidence questions. The frequency of correct answers for knowledge-based questions was calculated, and binomial tests were used to compare responses between the unmatched pre- and post-tests.

Seventy-three women participated in the educational intervention. Knowledge improved significantly for 8 of the 9 questions after the educational intervention (P < 0.001). Self-reported confidence in the ability to identify false information on social media improved to 62% on post-test from 19% on pretest (P < 0.001).

There is a need to educate college women about reproductive health/contraception and critical evaluation of online sources to mitigate the spread of medical misinformation. A pharmacist- or student pharmacist-led educational intervention is a promising practice to provide factual information about contraception, emergency contraception, folic acid, and the SIFT framework to college women.