Assessing the Impact of Online Occupational Therapy Content on Professional Development for Occupational Therapists

Social media has provided a virtual space for occupational therapists around the world to connect and to share practical information and this type of media has great potential as a source of social support and mentorship. This project’s purpose is to assess the qualitative impact of online occupational therapy-based content among occupational therapists. Data was collected and compiled from the currently available blogs and podcasts with OT-based content. Surveys were conducted among 40 occupational therapy students and occupational therapy practitioners and five occupational therapy content creators were interviewed on their experiences producing OT-based content online. The themes that resulted from the survey showed that occupational therapists valued content popularity, evidence-based content, clinical expertise, and the overall sense of community.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonessummer2020/1007/thumbnail.jp

Integrating evidence, politics and society: a methodology for the science–policy interface

There is currently intense debate over expertise, evidence and ‘post-truth’ politics, and how this is influencing policy formulation and implementation. In this article, we put forward a methodology for evidence-based policy making intended as a way of helping navigate this web of complexity. Starting from the premise of why it is so crucial that policies to meet major global challenges use scientific evidence, we discuss the socio-political difficulties and complexities that hinder this process. We discuss the necessity of embracing a broader view of what constitutes evidence—science and the evaluation of scientific evidence cannot be divorced from the political, cultural and social debate that inevitably and justifiably surrounds these major issues. As a pre-requisite for effective policy making, we propose a methodology that fully integrates scientific investigation with political debate and social discourse. We describe a rigorous process of mapping, analysis, visualisation and sharing of evidence, constructed from integrating science and social science data. This would then be followed by transparent evidence evaluation, combining independent assessment to test the validity and completeness of the evidence with deliberation to discover how the evidence is perceived, misunderstood or ignored. We outline the opportunities and the problems derived from the use of digital communications, including social media, in this methodology, and emphasise the power of creative and innovative evidence visualisation and sharing in shaping policy

The Effects of Social Media Influencers’ Source Credibility on their Ascribed Opinion Leadership and Consumers’ Purchase Intention

In the last years, social media with its networking platforms and online communities gained extreme popularity. With this emergence, brands all around the globe became well aware of people’s increasing daily social media activities on platforms such as Instagram. Consequently, influencer marketing got extremely important for businesses as a new marketing communication tool. However, there are concerns around the social media influencers’ perceived source credibility and their impact on consumers’ purchase intentions. The present research focuses on the Portuguese and German market and investigates how the perceived source credibility of Instagram social media influencers and its dimensions, namely attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise affect their ascribed opinion leadership and consequently influence consumers’ purchase intentions. As well as it examines the role of consumers’ self-esteem on the relationship between ascribed opinion leadership and consumers’ purchase intention. An online survey was conducted to collect data from 467 respondents from Portugal and Germany. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire was performed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study indicate that especially the influencers’ attractiveness as one of the source credibility dimensions has a positive impact on their ascribed opinion leadership. The findings provide evidence that social media influencers perceived as opinion leaders positively influence consumers’ purchase intention. Based on these results, further research directions and practical implications are provided

Building Social Media Capabilities in B2B Context – A Case Study

Social media has become an integral part of our everyday lives during the past decade. Organizations serving both the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets have realized that social media provides an efficient medium to reach their target audiences and have started to adopt social media as part of their marketing toolkit. However, utilizing social media is not a trivial task, especially for B2B organizations who have been the last to take advantage of the opportunities that the phenomenon has to offer. This study explores the process of developing social media and content marketing capabilities in B2B context. Drawing in previous literature around social media and content marketing, it aims to examine the social media capabilities development process from the viewpoint of how B2B companies can build and develop their social media capabilities in the fast-paced marketing environment of today. Capabilities are defined as the pool of expertise and knowhow that an individual or a company possesses of a certain topic. In addition, this study takes a look at what B2B firms are using social media for, i.e. what the goals of social media are for B2B companies, and explores whether any generalizable social media best practices can be identified. In order to study how B2B social media capabilities are formed, a single case study was conducted by examining a medium-sized Finnish company offering financial management software and consulting services. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were selected as the primary sources of evidence used in the case study, accompanied with supporting documentary evidence. The case study provides a detailed look at the case company and its social media journey, focusing particularly on the process of learning what social media can be used for and how to do so successfully. Based on the case analysis and existing literature, the process of building social media capabilities is one of continuous learning that requires companies to experiment with various ways of doing social media and learning from the results. A framework depicting this cyclical capability building process was developed. The findings also suggest that there are four main goals of B2B social media: 1) lead generation, 2) brand awareness (including thought leadership), 3) employer branding, and 4) recruitment. A second framework showcasing these goals and their interrelations was also developed. Finally, three different best practices of B2B social media were identified: 1) the inclusion of photos will increase the performance of social media posts, 2) maintaining a consistent presence on social media will help stand out from the competition, and 3) continuous learning is essential for the successful use of social media in marketing

Thou shalt not tweet unprofessionally: an appreciative inquiry into the professional use of social media

Background: Social media may blur the line between socialisation and professional use. Traditional views on medical professionalism focus on limiting motives and behaviours to avoid situations that may compromise care. It is not surprising that social media are perceived as a threat to professionalism. Objective: To develop evidence for the professional use of social media in medicine. Methods: A qualitative framework was used based on an appreciative inquiry approach to gather perceptions and experiences of 31 participants at the 2014 Social Media Summit. Results: The main benefits of social media were the widening of networks, access to expertise from peers and other health professionals, the provision of emotional support and the ability to combat feelings of isolation. Conclusions: Appreciative inquiry is a tool that can develop the positive practices of organisations and individuals. Our results provide evidence for the professional use of social media that may contribute to guidelines to help individuals realise benefits and avoid harms

Social features of Web Assisted Tobacco Interventions (WATIS) : case studies

textWeb Assisted Tobacco Interventions (WATIs) are proliferating due to their cost effectiveness and their compatibility with a fast-paced lifestyle that needs to be time and space detached. Following a general trend in web assisted interventions, WATIs are increasingly incorporating social media features. Often though, because they are added post-facto to a solid preexisting foundation that privileges information delivery, the social media and the informational sections are developed independently: the social component has no impact on the informational content. This forms the basis of this study, which proposes to do a detailed analysis of a WATI recommended by a panel of experts in the area of smoking cessation. An emphasis will be given to the visibility of social media features and the degree to which content from the social media component contributed by users impacts the informational component generated by content experts. This analysis will be supported by instruments for data collection especially adapted/designed for this study. This dissertation proposal is at the cusp of disciplinary boundaries as its theoretical underpinnings are in the intersections of three domains: design, health, and social media. This interdisciplinary approach is necessarily reflected in the study's conceptual vii framework, which draws from constructs such as "design with intent", tailored health interventions, and social networks for participatory culture. As a result of the detailed analysis, and the author's own expertise in social media across other fields, a set of recommendations will be proposed for the design of WATIs with social features aiming at a greater impact of these on the evidence-based informational content.Radio-Television-Fil

Hate Crime Legislation in Northern Ireland – An Independent Review: Consultation Response

We are responding to the Northern Irish Independent Review of Hate Crime consultation in our capacity as experts on social media abuse, online abuse, and online misogyny. We have in the past made significant contributions to UN calls for evidence on online harassment, and to the Bracadale Review on Hate Crime in Scotland, The One Scotland Hate Crime Legislation Review of the Scottish Government, and various UK Parliament inquiries addressing aspects of violence against women, gender-based hate, and online misogyny. In addition, we have made representations to the Scottish Government as to the need to amend legislation to cover a wider range of harassing and abusive behaviours online. We have recently published a world-leading volume Online Misogyny as a Hate Crime: A Challenge for Legal Regulation (Routledge 2019). We have been working on issues relating to harassment of women and girls in online spaces since 2013. We are possibly your only evidence respondents that have experience of the wider issues surrounding online harassment, and who take a holistic approach to the legal problems posed by such harassment, merging criminal law, gender, human rights, and internet law expertise. We are only responding to selected questions from our expert perspectives, focussing on: • Gender as part of the hate crime framework • online harassment and abuse • online misogyny • social media abuse • online violence against women • responsibilities of social media platform providers

Tweets and quacks: network and content analyses of providers of non-science-based anticancer treatments and their supporters on Twitter

Despite the consensus in the medical discipline that certain treatments lack scientific evidence and are worthless if not potentially dangerous, the promotion and selling of fake cures advertised as safe and effective has long plagued health care systems, praying on vulnerable patients and their loved ones. The web and social media are now playing a fundamental role in the propagation of non-science-based treatments and fraudulent medical claims, and in the rise of false health and lifestyle experts. This study combines criminological and computer science expertise to explore and critically analyze the Twitter presence of providers of non-science-based anticancer treatments and their active supporters in the English-speaking online community to investigate their structural relationships and to analyze the characteristics of the most popular actors. The features of the social network observed indicate that there is not a stable community of promoters and supporters of non-science-based medical treatments in the Twittersphere, suggesting the lack of a defined subculture and the presence of transient collectives rather than identifiable groups. Nonetheless, it is possible to observe dynamic conversational networks clustering around popular actors, tweets, and themes, prompting avenues for further research

Using Social Media as a Research Tool for a Bespoke Web-Based Platform for Stakeholders of Children With Congenital Anomalies: Development Study

BACKGROUND: Limited research evidence exists on the development of web-based platforms for reciprocal communication, coproduction research, and dissemination of information among parents, professionals, and researchers. This paper provides learning and the outcomes of setting up a bespoke web-based platform using social media. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the establishment of a web-based, multicontextual research communication platform for parents and stakeholders of children with congenital anomalies using social media and to identify associated research and ethical and technical challenges. METHODS: The ConnectEpeople e-forum was developed using social media platforms with a stakeholder engagement process. A multilevel approach was implemented for reciprocal engagement between parents of children with congenital anomalies, researchers, health care professionals, and other stakeholders using private and invisible and public Facebook groups, closed Twitter groups, and YouTube. Ethical approval was obtained from Ulster University. RESULTS: Nonprofit organizations (N=128) were invited to engage with an initial response rate of 16.4% (21/128). Of the 105 parents contacted, 32 entered the private and invisible Facebook groups to participate in the coproduction research. Public Facebook page followers rose to 215, a total of 22 posts had an engagement of >10%, and 34 posts had a reach of over 100. Webinars included requested information on childhood milestones and behavior. YouTube coverage included 106 ConnectEpeople videos with 28,708 impressions. Project information was obtained from 35 countries. The highest Facebook activity occurred during the early morning hours. Achievement of these results required dedicated time management, social media expertise, creativity, and sharing knowledge to curate valuable content. CONCLUSIONS: Building and maintaining a multilayered online forum for coproduction and information sharing is challenging. Technical considerations include understanding the functionality and versatility of social media metrics. Social media offers valuable, easily accessible, quantitative, and qualitative data that can drive the reciprocal process of forum development. The identification and integration of the needs of the ConnectEpeople e-forum was a key driver in the dissemination of useful, meaningful, and accessible information. The necessary dedicated administration to respond to requests and posts and collate data required significant time and effort. Participant safety, the development of trust, and the maintenance of confidentiality were major ethical considerations. Discussions on social media platforms enabled parents to support each other and their children. Social media platforms are particularly useful in identifying common family needs related to early childhood development. This research approach was challenging but resulted in valuable outputs requiring further application and testing. This may be of particular importance in response to COVID-19 or future pandemics. Incorporating flexible, adaptable social media strategies into research projects is recommended to develop effective platforms for collaborative and impactful research and dissemination

Light me up: power and expertise in risk communication and policy-making in the e-cigarette health debates

This paper presents a detailed account of policy-making in a contemporary risk communication arena, where strong power dynamics are at play that have hitherto lacked theoretical analysis and empirical validation. Specifically, it expands on the understanding of how public health policy decisions are made when there is a weak evidential base and where multiple interpretations, power dynamics and values are brought to bear on issues of risk and uncertainty. The aim of the paper is to understand the role that power and expertise play in shaping public health risk communication within policy-related debates. By drawing on insight from a range of literatures, the paper argues that there several interacting factors that shape how a particular narrative gains prominence within a wider set of perspectives and how the arguments and findings associated with that perspective become amplified within the context of policy choices. These findings are conceptualised into a new model – a policy evaluation risk communication (PERC) framework – and are then tested using the Electronic cigarette debate as a case study