Understanding Public Attitudes Toward Researchers Using Social Media for Detecting and Monitoring Adverse Events Data: Multi Methods Study

Background Adverse events are underreported in research studies, particularly randomized controlled trials and pharmacovigilance studies. A method that researchers could use to identify more complete safety profiles for medications is to use social media analytics. However, patient’s perspectives on the ethical issues associated with using patient reports of adverse drug events on social media are unclear. Objective The objective of this study was to explore the ethics of using social media for detecting and monitoring adverse events for research purposes using a multi methods approach. Methods A multi methods design comprising qualitative semistructured interviews (n=24), a focus group (n=3), and 3 Web-based discussions (n=20) with members of the public was adopted. Findings from a recent systematic review on the use of social media for monitoring adverse events provided a theoretical framework to interpret the study’s findings. Results Views were ascertained regarding the potential benefits and harms of the research, privacy expectations, informed consent, and social media platform. Although the majority of participants were supportive of social media content being used for research on adverse events, a small number of participants strongly opposed the idea. The potential benefit of the research was cited as the most influential factor to whether participants would give their consent to their data being used for research. There were also some caveats to people’s support for the use of their social media data for research purposes: the type of social media platform and consideration of the vulnerability of the social media user. Informed consent was regarded as difficult to obtain and this divided the opinion on whether it should be sought. Conclusions Social media users were generally positive about their social media data being used for research purposes; particularly for research on adverse events. However, approval was dependent on the potential benefit of the research and that individuals are protected from harm. Further study is required to establish when consent is required for an individual’s social media data to be used.