(1) Finding Clues of Pre-, Mid-, and Post-Visit Microaggression Against Unmarried Korean Women in Social Media
Ryu, H. and Pratt, W. 2022. "Microaggression clues from social media: revealing and counteracting the suppression of women's health care", JAMIA Special Focus Issue on Informatics for Sex- and Gender-Related Health 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocab208
*Article Coverage: https://ischool.uw.edu/news/2022/03/online-feedback-harms-womens-access-health-care-research-finds
*Received 2022 Samantha Adams ELSI Best Paper Award from American Medical Informatics Association (Award Article Coverage: https://ischool.uw.edu/news/2023/02/phd-students-work-health-microaggressions-wins-acclaim)
Objective: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how analyzing social media posts can uncover microaggressions and generate new cultural insights. We explore why Korean women hesitate to seek recommended gynecological care and how microaggressions visible in social media reveal insights for counteracting such harmful messaging.
Materials and Methods: We scraped the posts and responses on social media related to unmarried women’s uncomfortableness or unpleasantness in receiving gynecological care. We conducted content analyses of the posts and responses with the microaggression framework to identify both the types of microaggressions occurring within and outside the clinic as well as the responsible perpetrators. With an open coding and subsequent deductive coding approach, we further investigated the socio-cultural context for receiving gynecological care as an unmarried woman in South Korea.
Results: Our analysis uncovered that mothers, male partners, and superficially supportive social media res- ponders contribute to pre- and post-visit microaggressions toward unmarried women seeking gynecological care whereas healthcare providers contribute to only mid-visit microaggressions. We also exposed how social media was not only revealing but also reinforcing the suppression of women’s health care.
Discussion: Mid-visit microaggressions are currently addressed by cultural competence education, but pre- and post-visit microaggressions are overlooked. We uncover the gaps in current practices of informatics and public health methods and suggest ways to counteract online and offline microaggressions.
Conclusions: Social media provides valuable information about the cultural context of health care and should be used as a source of insights for targeted interventions to improve health care, in this case for unmarried Korean women.
(2) Online Microaggression Counteraction on Social Media
Study 1
Microaggressions in online forums harm community members and, in the context of health, could affect people’s willingness to seek needed health care. Yet, most approaches to moderating online content don’t effectively address microaggressions. To identify new possible designs that could counteract online microaggressions, we interviewed and co-designed with 14 unmarried Korean women, known targets of microaggressions related to gynecologic care. We found that participants delegate different responsibilities to each type of online forum user: moderator/forum organizer, post author, and commenter as potential ally or microaggression perpetrator. Based on their design suggestions, we created a visualization for how their ideas could be implemented in an actual online forum. With the prototype designs to counteract online microaggressions, we hope to enable encouraging online environments that support everyone in seeking needed healthcare.
Study 2
Family and peers often discourage unmarried Korean women from seeking needed gynecologic care, leading them to turn to online communities for support. Yet, such online communities are rife with microaggressions that invalidate and discount their experiences. In this study, we conducted design sessions with 14 unmarried Korean women to design tools to counteract online microaggressions. During the design sessions, we uncovered women’s reluctance to employ emotional support features, their tendency to take on the burden alone, and their insistence on minimizing the microaggression perpetrators’ burden. Rather than designing exactly to participants’ stated preferences, we further raised the question of how we, as responsible designers, could support women to counteract microaggressions and seek imperative care. With this responsibility in mind, we created designs and recommendations for online microaggression counteraction measures that could prevent further suppression of women’s health care.