Redes sociales para la vigilancia de niños con asma tratados en un programa especializado: Expectativas de los padres y los cuidadores

Background: Social media has been used in support of patients with asthma. However, it remains unclear what are the expectations of parents or caregivers of asthmatic patients. Objective: To evaluate the expectations of parents or caregivers of asthmatic children treated at Children's Asthma Prevention Program (PIPA), Uruguaiana, RS, in relation to the use of social media. Material and method: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional survey of parents or caregivers of children seen at Children's Asthma Prevention Program through responses to a written questionnaire on the use of new technologies and different applications to enhance information about asthma. Results: 210 parents or caregivers (median age: 25 years; age range: 18-42 years of patients were enrolled. The mean age of their children was 7.3 years (age range: 2 to 18 years), the mean duration of asthma was 4.7 years and 65% of parents/caregivers of these children had less than eight years of schooling. Most of them (72%) had no access to the Internet via cell/mobile phones and only 18% actively used to gathered information about asthma by internet. There was high interest (87%) in receiving information via social media. Conclusion: Parents or caregivers of children attending the PIPA program expressed high interest in using social media. However, few use it to control their children's disease. While providing a great benefit to use social media as a mean of communication in health, the content needs to be monitored for reliability and quality. The privacy of users (doctors and patients) must be preserved and it is very important to facilitate the access to Internet.