The Use of Social Media Among Parents of Infants with Cleft Lip and/or Palate.

PURPOSE: To determine the purpose of the parents of infants with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) for using Facebook, how they share for the audience and what kind of information they search for. DESIGN AND METHODS: The results of the study were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Data were collected for one major social media platform (Facebook) from public accounts dedicated to CL/P. The former involved thematic and word count analysis for online posts on the Facebook platform, while the latter employed descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Facebook has a total of 8 group accounts and 7695 users in Turkey. Among the 702 posts analyzed, "requesting information" was found to be the most commonly encountered theme (55.4%). This study, it was determined that especially parents of infants with CL/P need information about surgery. The "announcement" was mentioned in only 3.3% of all posts. Our text analysis of 17.134 words mentioned in posts revealed that the most common word was surgery (6.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides a comprehensive reference to the role of social media in CL/P. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: In the near future, analysis of patients' and public knowledge and perception of surgery will be an important next step in building greater awareness of its role in the management of CL/P.