Like Me, Like My Psychiatry: How Psychiatrists present their professional identities on Instagram

Abstract

Objective: Social media platforms like Instagram gained a popularity for healthcare professionals to reach potential clients and patients. This study aims to reveal the nature of Instagram use of psychiatrists in Turkey. Methods: Instagram search function for hashtags and username was used to find psychiatrists who use public accounts. A search between 15.10.2020 – 15.11.2020 were conducted with keywords psikiyatri and psikiyatrist (Turkish words for psychiatry and psychiatrists). A total number of 241 accounts from physicians were reached and after exclusion criteria 124 accounts are included in the study and 30758 total posts were analyzed. Descriptive parameters of the accounts and contents of the shared posts are analyzed and classified further. Results: Female users consisted 49.2% of the sample and male users consisted of 50.8%. 52.4% of all psychiatrists were from one of the seven regions of Turkey and 40.3% of all accounts based in one city, Istanbul. Most of the users had a title of specialists (78.2%) and worked predominantly in private practices (66.9%). Almost half of the sample has explicitly stated to offer online therapy option and 10.5% of all accounts posted patient info. Sex therapy was the most common area of specification, followed by couples & family therapy, EMDR and CBT. Conclusion: Instagram use patterns of psychiatrist from Turkey reveal important insights between socioeconomic factors and psychiatry practice. Our findings reveal that Instagram helps colleagues to reach public and to adjust their practice according to the feedbacks from Instagram community.