ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Digital Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1527853
Professionalism vs. Engagement: Quality of SSc Information on WeChat
Provisionally accepted
Lei Wang1Yue Xiong1Tingting Wu1Yingying Gao2Haojie Chen2Xin Chu2Baofeng Zhu2Jing Cao1
Tao Cheng1*Mingjun Wang1- 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2Nantong First People’s Hospital, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
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Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disease, and WeChat is a major source of health information in China. This study assesses the quality of SSc information on WeChat to understand its impact on public knowledge and engagement.Methods: A total of 375 articles from 9 WeChat public accounts were systematically analyzed using the DISCERN and Global Quality Scale (GQS) tools. Article quality was evaluated based on source credibility, content accuracy, and user engagement, including metrics such as views, likes, and comments.Results: Individual authors posted 50% of the articles, while non-profit organizations posted 21%, with non-profits providing higher quality content. Disease knowledge dominated (52.8%), yet readers showed higher interest in policy interpretation and rehabilitation. The average DISCERN and GQS scores were 28.96 and 1.62, indicating low quality across articles.Conclusion: While WeChat facilitates SSc information dissemination, the overall quality is lacking. Enhancing professionalism and interactivity on health information platforms like WeChat could better meet the needs of patients and the public for reliable information.
Keywords: systemic sclerosis, Rare Diseases, autoimmune disease, WeChat public account, Health information quality, DISCERN, Social Media
Received: 13 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Xiong, Wu, Gao, Chen, Chu, Zhu, Cao, Cheng and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tao Cheng, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.