DECODING PARKINSON’S ASSOCIATED HEALTH MESSAGES IN SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES BY MALAYSIAN SERVICE ADMINISTRATORS

Abstract

Social media pages serve as a valuable tool for promoting positive behavioural changes among patients. With a splurge of modern communication tools used today, health promoters use social media pages to get more people take preventive healthcare measures or effectively manage illness on its onset. Most of the health messages are twinned between Observed Information (factual details for health education) and Applied Information (prompting health messages directly used by patients) both resulting in improved health outcomes. Further by applying Positive Deviance, an alternative approach to elevate behavioural changes by sharing successful health best practices to patients and care givers are easily achieved. One such disease which needs more communication attention to promote behavioural change is Parkinson’s due to its complex and debilitated condition. This research focuses how health messages are used in social media page like Facebook by Parkinson’s disease Associations functioning in Malaysia to impart Parkinson’s related information through different communication approaches and also examine social media consumption by Parkinson’s patients/followers for behavioural changes through a quantitative content analysis. The findings indicate that evidence of behavioural change may not be proved with just Social Media pages, it is found to be more essential for Parkinson’s communication discerning rehabilitation therapies.  Further, Social Media pages have all vicissitudes to become obsolete if not effectively used and may not be a sufficient communication tool to achieve positive health outcomes in Parkinson’s affected patients.