This paper presents the findings from two studies that examine social media narratives to reveal health experiences from the patient point of view. Using a multi-method approach, we show that communicative cooperation is a fundamental part of a positive healthcare experience.
The interdisciplinary study of health communication, with its focus on physician-patient interactions, has shown that good communication leads to better healthcare and creates positive patient outcomes. However, less is known about patient-to-patient discourses, even though these exchanges are key to understanding patient perceptions of health and illness. By analyzing the voice of the patient-as-peer in the context of healthcare-related social media, linguists can bolster more traditional physician-patient research and impact better health outcomes by providing actionable insight straight from the “voice of the patient.” To this end, this paper presents the findings from two studies that examine social media narratives to reveal health experiences from the patient point of view. Using a multi-method approach, this work answers the questions: In what ways do patients discuss their experiences with healthcare? What discourse patterns emerge in these discussions? What is the perceived role of communication as a mark of good healthcare? The first study examines 20,000 social media posts by women discussing reproductive healthcare, focusing on perceptions of how healthcare providers listen, or more importantly, don’t listen. We show that listening is viewed as a key part of health communication, and cooperation is a fundamental part of a positive healthcare experience. Patients must feel that they have a voice that is being heard and considered. The second is a corpus study of Twitter posts that reference patient interactions with radiology. We find that patients use social media to seek peer-to-peer advice as well as to condemn what they perceive to be bad health communication. Additionally, these posts reveal patient perceptions of testing procedures and follow-up instructions. These findings not only theoretically interesting to linguists, but it is fundamental that they be interpreted and presented to patient and physician populations with the ultimate goal of providing better healthcare.
