Health Information Seeking Through Social Media and Search Engines by Parents of Children With Orofacial Cleft in Nigeria

Objective: To ascertain the level of utilization of social media platforms and search engines by parents of children with orofacial cleft presenting to our clinic, with respect to information seeking about the condition and its treatment.

Materials and methods: All consenting parents of children attending the cleft outpatient clinic of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, within the study period were included in the sample population. Data collection was done using a 17-item interviewer-administered questionnaire.

Results: A total of 50 parents participated in the study. Eighty-eight percent first sought information about their child's condition from hospital medical staff. Sixty-eight percent of the parents are active users of social media for general purposes, with Facebook being the most used platform (62%). Forty percent of the total respondents have used search engines/social media to seek information on their child's condition, with majority of those (80%) using Google to search for such information, 35% of the search was in relation to diagnosis, and 75% of the parents considered the information obtained very useful. Only 3 parents reported being part of a social media support group based on their child's condition.

Conclusion: The use of Internet resources for information seeking among the population studied is low. There is need to leverage on social media to provide support groups for families with children who have cleft.