Investigating the use of facebook by Medical Institutions in Kenya

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.