Journal of Development Communication And Applied Theatre

Abstract The innovation of the Internet has revolutionized communication dynamics in the health sector. It has brought rapid creation and dissemination of health messages among healthcare professionals and patients. The social media, a sub-set of the Internet facility, since its emergence, a number of healthcare practitioners employ this technology for health-related purposes. Hence, this study was carried out to examine literature on the use of social media in health practice by healthcare professionals. The study focused on the reasons and challenges of social media use for health practice. The study adopted Social Media Engagement Theory and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical framework. Qualitative approach was used. Finding revealed that the healthcare professionals employed social media for health research, knowledge sharing, booking appointments with patients, interrogating government health policies and programmes, among others. The study further found that the use of social media for health practice was challenged by misinformation, privacy concerns, time, etc. The study recommended among others that the government and social media owners should prevent the dissemination of unconfirmed health messages. Verified sources of health information should be promoted, while those that are not credible should be identified and portray as dangerous or not safe.

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