Misinformation in Healthcare Social Networks: Contributing Factors

There has been a steady increase in the amount of information published on the internet in the past ten years. In the healthcare domain, patients are increasingly exchanging medical information on online social networks and engaging in self care as a result. This trend has concerned many researchers who have studied and confirmed the existence of misinformation on the internet. This research is a work in progress investigating how online social networks affect patient safety. The research question is: What are the factors contributing to the amount of misinformation in healthcare social networks? In particular, this research explores the critical factors that influence the extent of misinformation about diabetes on a diabetes social network. A total of 100 discussion threads will be collected and regression techniques will be used to analyze the data.