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Exploring Weight Loss Medication Discourse: Mixed Methods Analysis of US-Based Facebook Posts
Elizabeth Dennard1, Katrina Makres1, Amrutha Alibilli1
1Deparment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, 4254 Stadium Drive, College Park, MD, 20742, United States.
JMIR Infodemiology
|May 8, 2026
Summary
Public narratives on Facebook reveal key themes regarding weight loss medications, including benefits, harms, and access. Enhanced education is crucial for the safe use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Sociology
- Digital Health
Background:
- Clinical efficacy of weight loss medications is established.
- Limited large-scale studies explore patient experiences with these drugs.
- Social media platforms offer insights into public discourse.
Purpose of the Study:
- Examine public narratives on Facebook concerning glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use.
- Identify perceived benefits, challenges, and identity-related experiences.
- Analyze the sociocultural framing of GLP-1 RA in online discussions.
Main Methods:
- Collected 2500 US-based Facebook posts (Jan 2022 - May 2024) using CrowdTangle.
- Applied bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) for topic modeling.
- Conducted qualitative thematic analysis to identify emergent themes.
Main Results:
- Identified five subcategories: healthy weight management, weight loss medications, semaglutide, Ozempic, and public figures/media.
- Thirteen overarching themes emerged, including weight management programs (n=702), neutral content (n=466), harms (n=373), benefits (n=329), and access (n=188).
Conclusions:
- Social media provides valuable insights into patient experiences with weight management pharmacotherapy.
- Public education initiatives can improve the safe and effective use of GLP-1 RAs for weight loss.
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