Miscarriage: A social networks users’ point of view

Abstract

Background. Every day several posts are published on social networks, however there are limited evidences about how miscarriage is perceived and disclosed by social network us-ers. The aim of our review was, therefore, to collect studies focused on posts published in the main social networks (Ins-tagram, Facebook, and Twitter) and regarding miscarriage, in order to give an overview of feelings and emotions perceived by social network users after a miscarriage. Methods. In October-November 2020, we searched in the electronic database PubMed (MEDLINE), all the peer-re-viewed journal articles published between January 2000 and November 2020. We considered eligible articles that reported clear data on 1) analyzed social network; 2) number of posts; 3) year of study; 4) interesting data about emotions perceived by social network users about miscarriage. Studies should be written in English, French, Spanish, Italian. Results. Of the 32 found publications, 2 met the inclusion criteria: the studies have been conducted between 2017-2019 and analyzed posts published on Instagram and Twitter. Up to 50.6% (Twitter) and 16.2% (Instagram) women expressed grief and anger or annoyance in their posts but also conflicted emotions, regret, hope. In particular, the experience of recurrent pregnancy loss was perceived by women as stressing for their future pregnancies. Some women decided to show their miscarriage on the social network considering this action as an attempt to both seek support and to offer solidarity to others. Celebrity disclosures, published researches about miscarriage risk factors, and/or preventive methods for miscarriage gen-erated a high number of discussions on Twitter. Conclusions. Miscarriage is usually perceived in a negative way on social networks, however, participation in online media could be useful because of the support usually given by others that experienced the same event. However, both studies that we included in the review didn’t allow a complete overview about this interesting topic.