Objective: To examine the content of Instagram posts about oral cancer and assess its usefulness in promoting oral cancer awareness and early detection practices.
Methods: A systematic search of Instagram for posts about oral (mouth) cancer was conducted using the hashtags #oral cancer and #mouth cancer. Posts usefulness in promoting awareness and early detection was assessed using the early detection usefulness score, and caption readability was assessed using the Flesch Kincaid readability score.
Results: A total of 81,000 posts were identified, and 200 posts were thoroughly evaluated. Included posts gathered a total of 48,118 (mean = 420.59 likes) and 27,898 views. Most posts (81.5%) were educational to the lay person, and India and the UK were the major contributors. The most discussed topics were prevention and early detection (55%). Representative clinical images were present in 35.5% of posts. Only 9.5% of posts mentioned the source of information, and the mean usefulness score was only 2.1 out of 10. The mean reading ease score was 56.7 ± 43.8 (range from 1 to 98 out of 100).
Conclusion: Instagram shows potential for promoting oral cancer awareness, particularly in prevention and early detection. However, concerns regarding content quality, scientific validity, and clarity persist.
Keywords: Instagram; awareness; cancer; knowledge; mouth; oral; public; social media.
© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.