In this issue, we have grouped the work of researchers who employ various forms of social media that weren’t available early in my career. Now, social media is often involved in teaching current and future health practitioners, in health practice interventions, and in generating theory. Of course, the media is also used by people with vested interests in shaping our futures without sufficient oversight. While not our current topic, in the future we may consider how unregulated social media output makes it difficult for some to distinguish facts identified through scientific inquiry from “facts” that are unsubstantiated.
Herein, you will be reading about how educators may teach medical students by showing them films produced in the entertainment industry. We are told by Esha Bansal, et al., that the students learn about the need for gender equity by watching and then discussing such films.
Other authors inform us of how they employ social media to gather data. Emily M. Cramer, et.al. used Instagram posts to teach us about how social media contributes to shaping the identities of women dealing with preeclampsia while Baumann and Thompson analyzed Twitter posts in their consideration of how politics influences women’s health.
We include three articles providing practice interventions dependent on social media. Obichili et al. report on the efficacy of social media-based psychodrama therapy in reducing symptoms of postpartum depression of women in Nigeria. Öz and Güloğlu demonstrated that video calls were effective in reducing clinical problems and pain following episiotomy. Ayça Balmumcu and Nazan Ozturk demonstrate that a support program including online instruction in pilates exercise followed up with and Whatsapp text messages significantly reduced premenstrual syndrome symptoms.
To generate theory, Aanchal Trehan and Shalini Sood Sehgal performed a content analysis of published research on the effects of social media on pregnant and post-partum women. Since their review was of international published literature, their contribution should be considered global.
As an anecdote, I, your editor, employ social media to alleviate personal stress. I sometimes play rather mindless online games when current events are too difficult for me to process. I haven’t kept a personal journal for this involvement in social media. For the moment, I claim that my serious and mindful Qi Gong practice with others who are scattered around the globe using the Zoom platform consumes more of my time and yields greater benefits.
As always, consult the table of literature contributions, while you read and learn.
Editor-in-Chief
May 17, 2024
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