Anke Hollinderbäumer*, Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Mainz, Germany Tobias Hartz*, Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Mainz, Germany Florian Walter, Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Mainz, Germany Frank Ãœckert, Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Mainz, Germany Track: Research Presentation Topic: The nature and dynamics of social networks in health Presentation Type: Rapid-Fire Presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Sol Principe Room: A - Alhambra Date: 2014-10-09 02:50 PM – 03:35 PM Last modified: 2014-09-03

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Background: Nowadays more and more people communicate on health issues via the internet. They use social networks like Facebook or Twitter to exchange views, to get information or to support each other. Mainly questions concerning health or diseases of oneself or relatives are in focus. Social networks offer good ways to interact and exchange experiences with other people and to receive hints and information by people one knows or believes to know. Health care providers also use social networks, but rather for private matters. Thus, often patients find their doctors or nursing staff in social networks and are trying to befriend them or contact them over these channels. However, how should you react to these befriending by patients? How do you react if you meet patients on Facebook who openly speak about their history of disease? Or relatives seeking for support and describing every detail of their child’s disease?

Objective: The Training should be offered for health care provider on secure conduct and appropriate communication in social networks.

Method: In lectures, the different subject areas are defined and the necessary knowledge is conveyed. The participants then work on specific assignments in small groups at PCs. In discussions with the whole group, the results and experiences of the different groups are shared.

Result: A concept for a 2-hour workshop addressing appropriate communication in social networks has been developed directed at health care professionals at the local university hospital. The workshop starts with a short introduction about the development of social networks, the risks in case of careless handling of them, and the measures which can be taken to improve security. Subsequently, different Facebook profiles are analyzed at PCs according to the reported criteria. The results are summarized by the group and the most important points for secure conduct are emphasized. In the second part of the workshop, recommendations are given on appropriate communication, on befriending and on how to act after having received Online-friendships. A specific assignment is that some participants are asked to establish a closed Facebook group (at prepared PCs) and to invite the other participants to find and join the group. Afterwards, a discussion within this Facebook group is about to get started according to a given scenario. After 10 minutes, the chat stops and the group collects and shares their experiences. A first course with evaluation is set for middle of March 2014.

Discussion: The participants receive concrete recommendations and information on secure and appropriate conduct in social networks. Equipped with this knowledge and these competencies they can act as multiplicators. They could be contact persons for colleagues or for patients and their relatives who often have little insight into aspects of security and sustainability in social networks, especially when they find themselves in extremely stressful situations due to diseases.