The portrayal and perceptions of cesarean section in Mexican media Facebook pages: a mixed-methods study

Abstract

Plain Language Summary Cesarean section is a medical intervention that can save women and babies when there are complications during pregnancy or birth. Mexico has one of the highest rates of cesarean section in the world (45%); much higher than what we would expect. We do not fully understand why this is happening, but we think social influences are important. We know that traditional and social media are important social influences on health and health-seeking behaviors in other countries. In our study, we aimed to explore how cesarean section is portrayed in Facebook Mexican media pages, and how people (Facebook users) interacted with these articles. To do this, we identified the most popular Facebook media pages in Mexico. Next, we searched for all articles posted to these pages. We found 80 articles and studied them to understand how they discussed cesarean section. We found that media articles posted on Facebook did not encourage women to have cesarean section, and they correctly showed risks and consequences. Then, we explored the comments from Facebook users that were attached to these posts about cesarean section. We found 6350 comments, and classified each comment based on the what the Facebook users said. Lastly, we connected the main themes of the articles to the types of comments. We found that Facebook users distrusted the Mexican health system, rejected information about the consequences of cesarean section, and often responded with the content with sexist and aggressive comments against women. Our research shows that while there is accurate and useful information on social media about cesarean section, other social issues like gender inequality and violence may influence pregnancy and childbirth.

Keywords

• Maternal health
• Cesarean section
• Women’s health
• Childbirth
• Media analysis
• Facebook analysis