Effects of message framing and risk perception on health communication for optimum cardiovascular disease primary prevention: a protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled study.

Background: Although several guidelines for cardiovascular disease (CVD) management have highlighted the significance of primary prevention, the execution and adherence to lifestyle modifications and preventive medication interventions are insufficient in everyday clinical practice. The utilization of effective risk communication can assist individuals in shaping their perception of CVD risk, motivating them to make lifestyle changes, and increasing their willingness to engage with preventive medication, ultimately reducing their CVD risks and potential future events. However, there is limited evidence available regarding the optimal format and content of CVD risk communication. Objective: The pilot study aims to elucidate the most effective risk communication strategy, utilizing message framing (gain-framed, loss-framed, or no-framed), for distinct subgroups of risk perception (under-perceived, over-perceived, and correctly-perceived CVD risk) through a multi-center randomized controlled trial design. Methods: A multi-center 3 × 3 factorial, observer-blinded experimental design was conducted. The participants will be assigned into three message-framing arms randomly in a 1:1:1 ratio and will receive an 8-week intervention online. Participants are aged 20-80 years old and have a 10-year risk of absolute CVD risk of at least 5% (moderate risk or above). We plan to enroll 240 participants based on the sample calculation. The primary outcome is the CVD prevention behaviors and CVD absolute risk value. Data collection will occur at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Discussion: This experimental study will expect to determine the optimal matching strategy between risk perception subgroups and risk information format, and it has the potential to offer health providers in community or clinic settings a dependable and efficient health communication information template for conducting CVD risk management.Clinical trial registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/bin/project/edit?pid=207811, ChiCTR2300076337.

Is Vaccination Approaching a Dangerous Tipping Point?

This Viewpoint discusses declining vaccination rates in the US, specifically against COVID-19, and the ways in which clinicians and the Food and Drug Administration can counter the current large volume of vaccine misinformation.

Mapping breastfeeding and COVID-19 related content and engagement on Facebook: Results from an online social listening study.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen evidence and advice evolve quickly. Since the start of the pandemic there has been confusion and concern about breastfeeding and COVID-19, and advice for this group has at times been contradictory. The volume of information on social media has exacerbated this. This study aimed to understand breastfeeding-related COVID-19 information sharing on social media during the global and Australian vaccine roll-out. METHODS: The CrowdTangle platform was used to source data from December 2020 to December 2021. Posts were categorised to intent and source and mapped to a timeline of pandemic-related events and announcements. Descriptive analysis was used to understand data distribution patterns and qualitative analysis for post-intent. RESULTS: A total of 945 posts were included. Post-interactions ranged from 0 to 6500. Vaccine-related posts were the highest in number and increased over time. Non-profit organisations shared the highest number of posts (n = 241), but interactions were highest with personal and government accounts. Peaks in posts and interactions mapped to key pandemic-related announcements and events. CONCLUSION: These results describe the breastfeeding and COVID-19 related content shared on Facebook over 13 months, and the associated interactions. Breastfeeding is an important public health issue and breastfeeding women have experienced conflicting and confusing breastfeeding-related information during the COVID-19 pandemic. Better understanding of social media usage, and the monitoring of changes in usage, as an emergency unfolds, can help target communications. This article adds to the evidence in understanding user reactions to COVID-19 related breastfeeding information on social media. SO WHAT?: Social listening is an important part of health communication and infodemic management. Understanding how users react to and engage with COVID-19 related breastfeeding information on social media can help to understand how the general public perceives and responds to health advice and other information being shared.

Strategies to Improve Medical Communication.

This JAMA Insights summarizes strategies for effective medical communication, with considerations for the message delivered, the messenger source, and the social context.

Sourcing UK COVID-19 News: An Analysis of Sourcing Patterns of 15 UK News Outlets Reporting on COVID-19 Across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

How a health emergency is defined and presented through the news media matters for public understanding and health outcomes. Previous studies have endeavored to identify the patterns of news sourcing in crisis coverage, specifically the interplay between political sources and health expert sources, but yielded inconclusive results. This study analyses the types and roles of actors (those entities mentioned in a story) and sources cited in news coverage of COVID-19 by surveying social media posts published by 15 UK news outlets coverage across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram between 1 January to December 31 2020. Overall, the findings show the prominence of political sources in UK news and that the most frequently named sources were representatives of the UK government. Moreover, when stories involved political actors, they were more likely to be given a voice as a source. This demonstrates how COVID-19 was a generalized crisis for the UK, which cascaded beyond health and into other economic, social, and cultural domains. The data show some variations in sourcing patterns between the different social media platforms. The analysis suggests that this may reflect the conventions of presenting news on each platform, with some tending toward the model of consensus by prioritizing political and government sources, and others contributing to a sphere of legitimate controversy by giving voice to a wider range of sources. This is distinctive and opens up the possibility for further research on how journalists adapt stories for social media and the consequences for public health communication.

Trust in science moderates the effects of high/low threat communication on psychological reactance to COVID-19-related public health messages.

BACKGROUND: As illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, communicating evidence-based health recommendations represents a tremendous challenge; among some recipients, public health messages can cause anger and negative cognitions, also known as psychological reactance, and consequently lead to negative attitudes and low intentions to perform the promoted behavior. The present study investigated the role of message characteristics (i.e. high vs. low freedom-threat messages), individuals' trust in science (i.e. high vs. low trust in science), and their interaction in determining responses to public health messages. METHODS: We conducted an experimental study, in which participants (N = 228) with high or low trust in science were exposed to high or low freedom-threat messages promoting mask-wearing to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and regular physical activity. RESULTS: We found support for the notion that messages imposing high threat to freedom lead to higher state psychological reactance, and more negative attitudes and behavioral intentions. Moreover, our results showed that trust in science has a main and interaction effect (together with message characteristics) on state reactance, behavioral intentions, and - to a lesser degree - attitudes, in the case of COVID-19, but not physical activity messages. The findings remained the same regardless of controlling for other relevant variables. CONCLUSIONS: While our study has some limitations, such as a rather homogeneous sample, a limited number of experimental stimuli, and a relatively artificial experimental environment, it offers some insight into the important role of health communication recipients' trust in science and provides advice on how to communicate health recommendations to skeptics.

Effectiveness of Computer-Tailored Health Communication in Increasing Physical Activity in People With or at Risk of Long-Term Conditions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity (PA) is beneficial for enhancing and sustaining both physical and mental well-being as well as for the management of preexisting conditions. Computer-tailored health communication (CTHC) has been shown to be effective in increasing PA and many other health behavior changes in the general population. However, individuals with or at risk of long-term conditions face unique barriers that may limit the applicability of CTHC interventions to this population. Few studies have focused on this cohort, providing limited evidence for the effectiveness of CTHC in promoting PA. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess the effectiveness of CTHC in increasing PA in individuals with or at risk of long-term conditions. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the effect of CTHC in increasing PA in people with or at risk of long-term conditions. Hedges g was used to calculate the mean effect size. The total effect size was pooled and weighted using inverse variance. When possible, potential moderator variables were synthesized, and their effectiveness was evaluated by subgroups analysis with Q test for between-group heterogeneity Qb. Potential moderator variables included behavior change theories and models providing the fundamental logic for CTHC design, behavior change techniques and tailoring strategies to compose messages, and computer algorithms to achieve tailoring. Several methods were used to examine potential publication bias in the results, including the funnel plot, Egger test, Begg test, fail-safe N test, and trim-and-fill method. RESULTS: In total, 24 studies were included in the systematic review for qualitative analysis and 18 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Significant small to medium effect size values were found when comparing CTHC to general health information (Hedges g=0.16; P<.001) and to no information sent to participants (Hedges g=0.29; P<.001). Half of the included studies had a low to moderate risk of bias, and the remaining studies had a moderate to high risk of bias. Although the results of the meta-analysis indicated no evidence of publication bias, caution is required when drawing definitive conclusions due to the limited number of studies in each subgroup (N≤10). Message-tailoring strategies, implementation strategies, behavior change theories and models, and behavior change techniques were synthesized from the 24 studies. No strong evidence was found from subgroup analyses on the effectiveness of using particular behavior change theories and models or from using particular message-tailoring and implementation strategies. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that CTHC is effective in increasing PA for people with or at risk of long-term conditions, with significant small to medium effects compared with general health information or no information. Further studies are needed to guide design decisions for maximizing the effectiveness of CTHC.

A Multilevel Primary Care Intervention to Improve Follow-Up of Overdue Abnormal Cancer Screening Test Results: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Realizing the benefits of cancer screening requires testing of eligible individuals and processes to ensure follow-up of abnormal results. Objective: To test interventions to improve timely follow-up of overdue abnormal breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancer screening results. Design, Setting, and Participants: Pragmatic, cluster randomized clinical trial conducted at 44 primary care practices within 3 health networks in the US enrolling patients with at least 1 abnormal cancer screening test result not yet followed up between August 24, 2020, and December 13, 2021. Intervention: Automated algorithms developed using data from electronic health records (EHRs) recommended follow-up actions and times for abnormal screening results. Primary care practices were randomized in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to (1) usual care, (2) EHR reminders, (3) EHR reminders and outreach (a patient letter was sent at week 2 and a phone call at week 4), or (4) EHR reminders, outreach, and navigation (a patient letter was sent at week 2 and a navigator outreach phone call at week 4). Patients, physicians, and practices were unblinded to treatment assignment. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was completion of recommended follow-up within 120 days of study enrollment. The secondary outcomes included completion of recommended follow-up within 240 days of enrollment and completion of recommended follow-up within 120 days and 240 days for specific cancer types and levels of risk. Results: Among 11 980 patients (median age, 60 years [IQR, 52-69 years]; 64.8% were women; 83.3% were White; and 15.4% were insured through Medicaid) with an abnormal cancer screening test result for colorectal cancer (8245 patients [69%]), cervical cancer (2596 patients [22%]), breast cancer (1005 patients [8%]), or lung cancer (134 patients [1%]) and abnormal test results categorized as low risk (6082 patients [51%]), medium risk (3712 patients [31%]), or high risk (2186 patients [18%]), the adjusted proportion who completed recommended follow-up within 120 days was 31.4% in the EHR reminders, outreach, and navigation group (n = 3455), 31.0% in the EHR reminders and outreach group (n = 2569), 22.7% in the EHR reminders group (n = 3254), and 22.9% in the usual care group (n = 2702) (adjusted absolute difference for comparison of EHR reminders, outreach, and navigation group vs usual care, 8.5% [95% CI, 4.8%-12.0%], P < .001). The secondary outcomes showed similar results for completion of recommended follow-up within 240 days and by subgroups for cancer type and level of risk for the abnormal screening result. Conclusions and Relevance: A multilevel primary care intervention that included EHR reminders and patient outreach with or without patient navigation improved timely follow-up of overdue abnormal cancer screening test results for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancer. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03979495.

Public's preferences for health science popularization short videos in China: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: Health science popularization short video disseminates health information to the public in an understandable way about health information. Objective: To investigate the preferences of Chinese residents for health science popularization short videos and provide suggestions for optimizing the production of short videos. Methods: An online survey of Chinese people was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, and a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to explore the public's preferences for health science popularization short videos. Results: A total of 618 respondents were included, of which 306 (45.51%) were male and 312 (50.49%) were female, 271 (43.85%) were aged 18-25, 239 (38.67%) were aged 26-60, and 108 (17.48%) were aged 60 and above. Whether the video is charged or not (46.891%) and the account subject (28.806%) were both considered important. The results of the DCE revealed that the participants considered video free of charge as the most significant attribute of health science popularization short videos (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633). Overall, participants preferred and were more willing to pay for health science popularization short videos with a hospital account subject (OR 1.192, 95% CI 1.116-1.274), with the form of graphic narration (OR 1.062, 95% CI 1.003-1.126), free of charge (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633), with the content that satisfies their needs (very much needed: OR 1.253, 95% CI 95% CI 1.197-1.311; generally needed: OR 1.078, 95% CI 1.029-1.129), with platform certification (OR 1.041, 95% CI 1.011-1.073), without commercial advertisements (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.018-1.080), with simple-to-understand content (OR 1.071, 95% CI 1.040-1.104), and with video content that evokes fear or dread of illness in the viewer (OR 1.046, 95% CI 1.015-1.078). Conclusion: Participants favor free health popularization short videos, which are hospital accounts, with content that is illustrated, understandable, meets their needs, and can serve as a warning. In the future, the production of health popularization short videos should focus on improving the diversity and relevance of video content, making it as easy to understand to achieve good science popularization effects.

Trabalho remoto e uso de redes sociais como instrumentos de extensão e aprendizagem durante a pandemia de COVID-19 / Remote work and the use of social networks as extension and learning tools during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objetivo: Descrever a experiência do uso de redes sociais como instrumentos em ações de educação em saúde, promoção e prevenção durante a pandemia de COVID-19. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo descritivo realizado no projeto de extensão "Sustentabilidade do PET-SAÚDE Interprofissionalidade" dando continuidade às ações interventivas do curso de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, campus Governador Valadares-MG, que realizou ações de promoção de saúde em atenção primária entre abril de 2020 e junho de 2021. O projeto teve a participação de 4 discentes e 2 docentes do curso de Odontologia da UFJF/GV com parceria da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Governador Valadares-MG. As ações foram desenvolvidas pelos discentes, os quais dividiram o processo em nove etapas. As atividades foram veiculadas pelas redes sociais sob o título "Vida Saudável e Autocuidado: PET-Saúde Interprofissionalidade UFJF/GV". Resultados: Foram realizadas 37 postagens com abordagem de 33 assuntos, alguns temas foram divididos entre partes 1 e 2, para melhor enfoque das comunicações. Obtivemos na rede social Instagram um total de 175 seguidores que acompanhavam as publicações feitas semanalmente. Os materiais produzidos também foram postados em formato de vídeo no Youtube e compartilhados no Facebook, visando aumentar a interação com os seguidores, somando 642 visualizações. As postagens atingiram o total de 1510 curtidas nas páginas do projeto. Conclusão: As redes sociais demostraram ser inovadoras na disseminação de informação para a população, alcançando a troca de saberes, no processo ensino-aprendizagem em tempos de pandemia, possibilitando o desenvolvimento de competências necessárias para a formação profissional.(AU)

Objective: To describe the experience of using social networks as instruments in health education, promotion and prevention actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: This is a descriptive study carried out in the extension project "Sustainability of PET-SAÚDE Interprofissionalidade", continuing the interventional actions of the Dentistry course at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Governador Valadares-MG campus, which carried out actions to promote health in primary care between April 2020 and June 2021. The project had the participation of 4 students and 2 professors from the UFJF/GV Dentistry course in partnership with the Municipal Health Department of Governador Valadares-MG. The actions were developed by the students, who divided the process into nine stages. The activities were broadcast on social networks under the title "Healthy Life and Self-Care: PET-Saúde Interprofissionalidade UFJF/GV". Results: 37 posts were made covering 33 subjects, some themes were divided into parts 1 and 2, for a better focus on communications. We obtained a total of 175 followers on the Instagram social network that followed the publications made weekly. The materials produced were also posted in video format on Youtube and shared on Facebook, aiming to increase interaction with followers, totaling 642 views. Posts reached a total of 1510 likes on the project pages. Conclusion: Social networks proved to be innovative in disseminating information to the population, achieving the exchange of knowledge in the teaching-learning process in times of pandemic, enabling the development of skills necessary for professional training. (AU)

AI Chatbots, Health Privacy, and Challenges to HIPAA Compliance.

This Viewpoint examines the privacy concerns raised by medical uses of large language models, such as chatbots.

The Challenges for Regulating Medical Use of ChatGPT and Other Large Language Models.

This Viewpoint discusses how regulators across the world should approach the legal and ethical challenges, including privacy, device regulation, competition, intellectual property rights, cybersecurity, and liability, raised by the medical use of large language models.

Social and self-stigma during COVID-19 pandemic: Egyptians' perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Social stigma associated with infectious diseases existed throughout the history of pandemics due to fears of contagion and death. This study aims to assess social and self-stigma resulting from COVID-19 infection and other associated factors in Egypt during the pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 533 adult Egyptians via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included social stigma toward current and recovered COVID-19 patients and the negative self-image of being a COVID-19 patient. RESULTS: The mean calculated overall COVID-19-related stigma score for the studied sample was 4.7±3.1. The highest reported stigma category was mild stigma: Social stigma towards current COVID-19 patients (88.2%), Social stigma toward recovered COVID-19 patients (64.2%), Negative self-image for being a COVID-19 patient; perceived self-stigma (71.6%) and total stigma score (88.2%) respectively. The overall stigma score was negatively associated with a higher level of education and getting information from healthcare workers and positively associated with getting information from social networks. CONCLUSION: Social and self-stigma related to COVID-19 infection was mild from the Egyptian perspective but found in a large proportion of the population and mainly affected by getting information from healthcare workers or through social media and being more among those with lower education levels. The study recommends more legislative control on social media for disseminating health-related information and conducting awareness campaigns to counteract these adverse effects.

Gain-Loss Framing and Social Distancing: Temporal Framing's Role as an Emotion Intensifier.

Effective health communication requires various strategies. This study focused on two framing strategies closely relevant to health issues. Specifically, it examined how temporal framing moderates the effects of gain-loss framing on social distancing with particular attention to the underlying affective mechanisms of these interactions. A 2 (temporal framing: proximal vs. distal) X 2 (gain-loss framing: gain vs. loss) randomized experiment was conducted with 114 undergraduate students in Korea. The results showed that loss-framing was more effective than gain-framing when presented in temporally proximal frames, but such differences diminished when presented in temporally distal frames. The interaction effects of temporal framing and gain-loss framing had indirect effects on attitudes via fear and anger. They also had an indirect effect on intentions via fear. This study's results enhance our understanding of framing effects by testing the interaction effects between two types of framing in the context of social distancing and clarifying affective mediating processes through which framing exerts its effects. These findings have practical implications for designing effective health messages.

Diga sim à vacina contra o papilomavírus humano: produção e validação de um guia ilustrado / Diga sí a la vacuna contra el papilomavirus humano: producción y validación de una guía ilustrada / Say yes to the human papillomavirus vaccine: production and validation of an illustrated guide

Objetivos: produzir e validar um guia ilustrado como recurso tecnológico de informação para meninos e meninas sobre a vacina contra o Papilomavírus Humano. Método: estudo metodológico, conduzido em ambiente virtual guiado pelo modelo ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation e Evaluation) e pelo Design Instrucional Contextualizado. Participaram da validação de conteúdo e aparência 35 experts da área da saúde e 35 de outras áreas. Na avaliação semântica, participaram 20 meninos e 22 meninas. Resultados: a tecnologia educacional desenvolvida foi um guia ilustrado, constituído de 13 tópicos. A validação de conteúdo global foi 0,91; a validação de aparência, 0,95. Na avaliação, os textos tiveram 94,8% e as ilustrações, 88,8% de acordo total. A versão final constituiu-se de 18 páginas nas versões impressa e digital. Considerações finais: o guia mostrou-se válido e adequado para veicular informações com potencial enquanto recurso didático, para mediar práticas educativas com meninos e meninas sobre a vacina contra o Papilomavírus Humano.

Objetivos: producir y validar una guía ilustrada como recurso tecnológico de información para niños y niñas sobre la vacuna contra el Virus del Papiloma Humano. Método: estudio metodológico, conducido en ambiente virtual guiado por el modelo ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation y Evaluation) y por el Design Instrucional Contextualizado. Participaron en la validación de contenido y apariencia 35 experts en salud y 35 de otras áreas. En la evaluación semántica, participaron 20 niños y 22 niñas. Resultados: la tecnología educativa desarrollada fue una guía ilustrada, constituida por 13 tópicos. La validación de contenido global fue 0,91; la validación de apariencia, 0,95. En la evaluación, los textos tuvieron 94,8% y las ilustraciones, 88,8% de acuerdo total. La versión final constaba de 18 páginas en las versiones impresa y digital. Consideraciones finales: la guía se mostró válida y adecuada para transmitir información con potencial como recurso didáctico, para mediar prácticas educativas con niños y niñas sobre la vacuna contra el Virus del Papiloma Humano.

Objective: to produce and validate an illustrated guide as a technological resource of information for boys and girls about the vaccine against the Human Papillomavirus. Method: methodological study, conducted in a virtual environment guided by the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) model and by the Contextualized Instructional Design. The participants in the validation of content and appearance were 35 experts in the health area and 35 from other areas. In the semantic evaluation, 20 boys and 22 girls participated. Results: the developed educational technology was an illustrated guide, consisting of 13 topics. Overall content validation was 0.91; appearance validation was 0.95. In the evaluation, the texts had 94.8% and the illustrations, 88.8% of total agreement. The final version consisted of 18 pages in print and digital versions. Final considerations: the guide proved to be valid and adequate to convey information with potential as a didactic resource to mediate educational practices with boys and girls about the vaccine against the Human Papillomavirus.

Infographics and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Differences between Visual and Textual Health Messages.

Effective health communication is vital to improving health outcomes. One increasingly popular form of health communication is the use of infographics. Despite its popularity, there is a lack of empirical investigation regarding its information processing mechanism. We applied the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to study the conditions that lead to elaboration. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: a text-only health message and a health infographic. Results showed that the infographic had better image appeal rating than the text-only message, and the group that viewed the infographic reported greater elaboration. In addition, for both groups, prior knowledge, ease of understanding, and image appeal had effects on elaboration. Presentation format (text-only vs infographic) interacted with prior knowledge to impact elaboration. Our findings demonstrate that visual design cannot be sidelined as a peripheral interest, but should be positioned as one of the focal points in health communication research.

Analysis of the Impact of Communication Campaigns under the Project "Syphilis No": A National Tool for Inducing and Promoting Health.

Syphilis is increasingly prevalent around the world as a result of complex factors. In Brazil, the government declared a syphilis epidemic in 2016 and then set a strategic agenda to respond to this serious public health problem. In a joint effort, Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) recommended that novel and diversified health communication strategies should be developed, which the "Syphilis No" project (SNP) later conducted through nationwide mass communication campaigns. We performed exploratory data analysis to identify and understand the results of three health communication campaigns by considering syphilis data trends in Brazil. The SNP, by using traditional and innovative means of communication, focused on multiple target audiences to encourage behavior changes through awareness and syphilis knowledge acquisition via the internet. In addition, the SNP disseminated information on syphilis testing, prevention, and treatment through social media and multiple media outlets. We observed that the period of the health campaigns corresponded to the period when the syphilis testing uptake increased and the number of reported cases dropped. Thus, our findings indicate that public health responses could substantially benefit from the use of health communication campaigns as a tool for health promotion, education, and transformation.

What Drives the Influence of Health Science Communication Accounts on TikTok? A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis.

Medical institutions face a variety of challenges as they seek to enhance their reputation and increase the influence of their social media accounts. Becoming a social media influencer in the health field in today's complex online environment requires integrated social and technical systems. However, rather than holistically investigating the mechanism of account influence, studies have focused on a narrow subset of social and technical conditions that drive online influence. We attribute this to the mismatch between complex causality problems and traditional symmetric regression methods. In this study, we adopted an asymmetric configurational perspective that allowed us to test a causally complex model of the conditions that create strong and not-strong account influence. We used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to detect the effects of varying configurations of three social system characteristics (i.e., an oncology-related attribute, a public attribute, and comment interaction) and two technical system characteristics (i.e., telepresence and video collection) on the TikTok accounts of 63 elderly Chinese doctors (60 to 92 years old). Our results revealed two pathways associated with distinct sociotechnical configurations to strong account influence and three pathways associated with distinct sociotechnical configurations to not-strong account influence. Furthermore, the results confirmed that a single antecedent condition cannot, on its own, produce an outcome, i.e., account influence. Multiple inter-related conditions are required to produce an influential account. These results offer a more holistic picture of how health science communication accounts operate and reconcile the scattered results in the literature. We also demonstrate how configurational theory and methods can be used to analyze the complexities of social media platforms.