A picture tells a thousand words: A content analysis of concussion-related images online.
OBJECTIVE
Recently image-sharing social media platforms have become a popular medium for sharing health-related images and associated information. However within the field of sports medicine, and more specifically sports related concussion, the content of images and meta-data shared through these popular platforms have not been investigated. The aim of this study was to analyse the content of concussion-related images and its accompanying meta-data on image-sharing social media platforms.


METHODS
We retrieved 300 images from Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr by using a standardised search strategy. All images were screened and duplicate images were removed. We excluded images if they were: non-static images; illustrations; animations; or screenshots. The content and characteristics of each image was evaluated using a customised coding scheme to determine major content themes, and images were referenced to the current international concussion management guidelines.


RESULTS
From 300 potentially relevant images, 176 images were included for analysis; 70 from Pinterest, 63 from Flickr, and 43 from Instagram. Most images were of another person or a scene (64%), with the primary content depicting injured individuals (39%). The primary purposes of the images were to share a concussion-related incident (33%) and to dispense education (19%). For those images where it could be evaluated, the majority (91%) were found to reflect the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3) guidelines.


CONCLUSIONS
The ability to rapidly disseminate rich information though photos, images, and infographics to a wide-reaching audience suggests that image-sharing social media platforms could be used as an effective communication tool for sports concussion. Public health strategies could direct educative content to targeted populations via the use of image-sharing platforms. Further research is required to understand how image-sharing platforms can be used to effectively relay evidence-based information to patients and sports medicine clinicians.
Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK; Department of Physiotherapy, Poole Hospital NHS Trust, Poole, UK; The FA Centre for Disability Football Research, St Georges Park, Burton-Upon-Trent, UK. Electronic address: osman.hassan.ahmed@gmail.com.
Osman H
OH
Ahmed
Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia; Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Hopin
H
Lee
University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Canada.
Laura L
LL
Struik
D057218:Blogging; D001924:Brain Concussion; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D010781:Photography; D061108:Social Media
Concussion; Knowledge translation; Public health; Social media