Health information—and misinformation—is everywhere on social media. But does the messenger matter in social media e-cigarette information? Researchers at UMass Chan Medical School were interested in determining how young adults perceive information about vaping e-cigarettes based on who shared that information on Instagram. In a study led by Donghee Nicole Lee, Ph.
D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, which was published in May in , investigators found that the source of on can play a critical role in its trustworthiness. Survey participants randomly assigned to receive e-cigarette education messages posted by a medical school health expert on a simulated Instagram feed rated the source and the message as having higher credibility than identical messages posted by a friend or social media influencer.
Participants who received the health expert's posts also reported significantly more curiosity about e-cigarettes than those who received the same posts from an influencer. The study was a for research Dr. Lee is conducting as part of a career development award through the National Cancer Institute.
"The dynamic of health misinformation is very complex. From a communication lens, we were trying to know how we can increase acceptability of the current public health messaging to help increase the effectiveness of the e-cigarette education messages," said Lee. Lee's mentor and co-author, Elise Stevens, Ph.
D., assistant pro.