Abstract:
Medical institutions are increasingly using social networking sites to converse with
patients, employees, and society in general. This study therefore investigated 8 leading
causes of death and health topics in Facebook posts of 16 healthcare organizations in
Kenya. We collected 2,800 Facebook posts made over a one-year period by sixteen Level
5 and Level 6 medical institutions in Kenya. We then developed a list of keywords of the 8
leading causes of death and health topics in Kenya. The keywords were then deductively
thematically analysed to identify frequency patterns. Results showed that, on average, the
two most frequently used health topics in Facebook posts are cancer and heart diseases,
each at 7%. These findings can be used as a basis for medical institutions to establish their
presence in social media by identifying major themes that are very important to Kenyans
and focus on regularly posting on these health topics.
