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Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening

A misunderstanding of the mechanism of action and bacterial targets of antibiotics by consumers may drive inappropriate antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Tackling AMR requires an in-depth understanding of consumer beliefs and misconceptions. We explored consumer conversations on a n...

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Autores principales: Essack, Sabiha, Bell, John, Burgoyne, Douglas, Eljaaly, Khalid, Tongrod, Wirat, Markham, Thomas, Shephard, Adrian, López-Pintor, Elsa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10295769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37370276
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12060957
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author Essack, Sabiha
Bell, John
Burgoyne, Douglas
Eljaaly, Khalid
Tongrod, Wirat
Markham, Thomas
Shephard, Adrian
López-Pintor, Elsa
author_facet Essack, Sabiha
Bell, John
Burgoyne, Douglas
Eljaaly, Khalid
Tongrod, Wirat
Markham, Thomas
Shephard, Adrian
López-Pintor, Elsa
author_sort Essack, Sabiha
collection PubMed
description A misunderstanding of the mechanism of action and bacterial targets of antibiotics by consumers may drive inappropriate antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Tackling AMR requires an in-depth understanding of consumer beliefs and misconceptions. We explored consumer conversations on a number of social media platforms on antibiotic use and AMR in the context of sore throat and how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected online conversations between 1 January 2018 and 25 November 2021 across eight countries. Five distinct consumer groups were identified (antibiotic-preserving peer educators, antibiotic-cautious consumers, medication-resistant antibiotic opponents, believers in the strength of antibiotics, determined pro-antibiotic consumers) with a wide spectrum of beliefs around antibiotics in sore throat. Many opinions were based upon misconceptions, the most prominent of which was that antibiotics are strong medications that can treat all types of sore throat. COVID-19 had a multifaceted effect on the sore throat and AMR conversation. Sore throat triggered anxiety as consumers feared it may be a COVID-19 symptom while engagement in conversations around antibiotics for COVID-19 increased. Finally, consumers sought multiple routes to access antibiotics, such as directly from the pharmacy or by attempting to persuade physicians to prescribe. Knowledge obtained from this study could be used to develop focused approaches to dispel consumer misconceptions and mitigate AMR.
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spelling pubmed-102957692023-06-28 Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening Essack, Sabiha Bell, John Burgoyne, Douglas Eljaaly, Khalid Tongrod, Wirat Markham, Thomas Shephard, Adrian López-Pintor, Elsa Antibiotics (Basel) Article A misunderstanding of the mechanism of action and bacterial targets of antibiotics by consumers may drive inappropriate antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Tackling AMR requires an in-depth understanding of consumer beliefs and misconceptions. We explored consumer conversations on a number of social media platforms on antibiotic use and AMR in the context of sore throat and how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected online conversations between 1 January 2018 and 25 November 2021 across eight countries. Five distinct consumer groups were identified (antibiotic-preserving peer educators, antibiotic-cautious consumers, medication-resistant antibiotic opponents, believers in the strength of antibiotics, determined pro-antibiotic consumers) with a wide spectrum of beliefs around antibiotics in sore throat. Many opinions were based upon misconceptions, the most prominent of which was that antibiotics are strong medications that can treat all types of sore throat. COVID-19 had a multifaceted effect on the sore throat and AMR conversation. Sore throat triggered anxiety as consumers feared it may be a COVID-19 symptom while engagement in conversations around antibiotics for COVID-19 increased. Finally, consumers sought multiple routes to access antibiotics, such as directly from the pharmacy or by attempting to persuade physicians to prescribe. Knowledge obtained from this study could be used to develop focused approaches to dispel consumer misconceptions and mitigate AMR. MDPI 2023-05-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10295769/ /pubmed/37370276 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12060957 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Essack, Sabiha
Bell, John
Burgoyne, Douglas
Eljaaly, Khalid
Tongrod, Wirat
Markham, Thomas
Shephard, Adrian
López-Pintor, Elsa
Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title_full Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title_fullStr Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title_full_unstemmed Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title_short Addressing Consumer Misconceptions on Antibiotic Use and Resistance in the Context of Sore Throat: Learnings from Social Media Listening
title_sort addressing consumer misconceptions on antibiotic use and resistance in the context of sore throat: learnings from social media listening
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10295769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37370276
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12060957
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