Objective To investigate the current situation of communication of health science popularization in tertiary maternal and child health (MCH) institutions based on WeChat official account in China, so as to provide evidence for MCH institutions at all levels to enhance health science popularization function through WeChat official account and improve the effectiveness of health communication through new media.
Methods A total of 274 institutions with WeChat official account who participated in the performance appraisal of national tertiary MCH institutions in 2021 were recruited as research subjects. A self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the person in charge of WeChat official account through questionnaire star from April to June 2022. The questionnaire covered basic information of that person, the construction and management of the WeChat official account included in the influential monitoring of popular science works of tertiary MCH hospital, the development, release and operation of popular science works, and the survey of users, etc.
Results Among 274 tertiary MCH hospital which had official WeChat accounts, 67.9% mainly provided service function, 98.9% had health education functions, and 29.2% had more than 200 000 registered users. The number of managers of WeChat official account was relatively small, only 1 person accounted for 29.2% , and 37.9% of them had no management of specialized personnel. The departments which the person in charge of the official WeChat account belonged to were mainly publicity section (38.7%), health education section (27.4%) and hospital office (13.1%). Only 36.9% of the persons being in charge had medical professional background. The methods used to determine the themes of popular science works were matching popular science promotion days (94.2%), supported by each departments (90.1%), hot topics (81.8%), solar terms / weather changes (59.5%), etc., and only 37.2% of the topics came from user surveys. The sources of popular science manuscripts were mainly provided by relevant departments, accounting for 95.3%. About 94.5% of the institutions reviewed the manuscripts before the release of popular science works. The published popular science works were mainly promoted through official advocacy media (84.3%) and the hospital We Media(77.4%), and only 13.1% were promoted by the MCH system. Only 47.1% of the operational staff of WeChat official account were full-time and 49.3% were part-time. About 79.6% of institutions did not have fund support, 53.6% had incentives for publishing popular science works, and only 21.2% had conducted user survey.
Conclusion The vast majority of tertiary MCH institutions can carry out popular science dissemination through their official WeChat account, but generally they lack of user survey and operational support. Management of the WeChat official account should be further strengthened, and the communication and needs assessment with the official account users should be reinforced, so as to further promote the health communication ability of the WeChat official account.
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