- Title
- The delicate balance of communicational interests : a Bakhtinian view of social media in health care
- Creator
- Ukoha, Chukwuma; Stranieri, Andrew
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/176602
- Identifier
- vital:15167
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-06-2020-0071
- Identifier
- ISBN:1477-996X (ISSN)
- Abstract
- Purpose: This paper aims to use the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin to reveal new insights into the role and impact of social media in health-care settings. Design/methodology/approach: With the help of Bakhtin’s constructs of dialogism, polyphony, heteroglossia and carnival, the power and influences of the social media phenomenon in health-care settings, are explored. Findings: It is apparent from the in-depth analysis conducted that there is a delicate balance between the need to increase dialogue and the need to safeguard public health, in the use of social media for health-related communication. Bakhtin‘s constructs elucidate this delicate balance and highlight the need for health-care providers that use social media to find the right balance between these competing communicational priorities. Originality/value: This paper advances a nascent theoretical approach to social media research. By applying Bakhtinian ideas to consumer health informatics, this paper has the potential to open a new approach to theorizing the role of social software in health-care settings. Stakeholders in digital health will find this paper useful, as it opens up dialogue to further discuss the role of social media in health care. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.
- Publisher
- Emerald Group Holdings Ltd.
- Relation
- Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society Vol. 19, no. 2 (2020), p. 236-248
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright © Emerald Publishing Limited
- Subject
- 0807 Library and Information Studies; 0899 Other Information and Computing Sciences; 1702 Cognitive Sciences; Bakhtin; Carnival; Dialogue; Health care; Heteroglossia; Legitimation; Polyphony; Social media
- Reviewed
- Funder
- This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship through Federation University Australia.
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