A Study on Acne Patients’ Levels of Obtaining Information Through Social Media and Applying These Information

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the level and way of the internet usage for reaching alternative methods, the level of obtaining information about the treatment of acne vulgaris (AV), i.e. pustule through social media, and the level of using this acquired information in patients diagnosed with AV which is known as pustule colloquially. In the study, the face-to-face interview technique was applied to a total of 121 patients diagnosed with AV who applied to Dermatology Outpatient Clinic of Sivas Cumhuriyet University. An interview form questioning the patients’ socio-demographic characteristics, frequency of using internet and media, their social media accounts, their level of searching about their diseases through these tools, their level of acquiring information and status of realizing them as well as acne severity (PA), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Acne-Specific Quality of Life Index (AQOL) was applied to the patients. The interviewed patients’ levels of following the contents in the social and traditional media about the acne disease were found to be high, 51.2% of them were following the contents about the disease, and 55.4% were applying what they learnt. Variables of purchasing products at least once from the social media for the acne disease (p=0.026<0.05) and counseling a physician before the usage (p=0.034<0.05) were determined to have a significant effect on social media usage. It was concluded that the social media usage of acne patients had a significant effect in terms of AQOL (p=0.012<0.05) and the probability of accessing information from social media in terms of this index increased by 2.444 items (Exp:2.444). However, the effect of Acne Quality of Life Index was found to be lower than the dermatology life quality index. As a result of this study, due to the properties of acne vulgaris negatively reflecting disease on the social life of a person emotionally and behaviorally, the frequency of using CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) was high. Therefore, all mass media, especially social media, are frequently used by the patients because of the information they provide concerning this issue.

Keywords

• acne vulgaris
• pustule
• social media
• av treatment on the internet
• akne vulgaris
• sivilce
• sosyal medya
• i̇nternette av tedavisi