PhD Candidate Gordon Brett published an article in the Journal of Communication Inquiry. The article examines the motivations and explanations of health care professionals who negotiate the benefits and risks of online communication with respect to their roles.
Gordon Brett is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Toronto's Sociology Department. His research interests lie at the intersection of sociological theory, culture, cognition, and the body/embodiment.
We have posted the abstract below. The full article can be viewed at the Journal of Communication Inquiry.
Scheibling, C., Gillett, J., & Brett, G. (2018). "Making the Virtual Rounds: The Use of Blogs by Health-Care Professionals" Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 42(1) 48–66.
In the ‘‘Health 2.0’’ era, digital media has altered how health care is conducted and how patients consume medical information. This article explores the reasons why health-care professionals create their own blogs and how they use blogging as a component of their work. We examine interviews with medical bloggers (n ¼ 83) featured on ‘‘Grand Rounds,’’ a weekly medical blog forum or ‘‘carnival,’’ to interpret the ways in which blogging is incorporated into their everyday lives. In performing a qualitative thematic analysis, we develop five themes that help capture what blogs mean to these health-care practitioners. The uses of blogs speak to articulating and reestablishing a professional reputation, connecting with patients informally, writing for therapeutic reasons, negotiating institutional constraints, and promoting community and health-care reform.