Negotiating the maze of menopause misinformation: a comparative analysis of stance in health influencer versus medical professional discourse

Margo Van Poucke*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study investigates how health influencers (HIs) and medical professionals (MPs) use epistemic stance to shape menopause treatment discourse on YouTube, a popular platform for digital health communication. Using a corpus-assisted approach, it analyzes mental and communication verbs controlling (that-)complement clauses across the two speaker groups. The quantitative results show that both HIs and MPs frequently express certainty, with HIs favoring speculative mental verbs (e.g. think, believe) and MPs predominantly relying on reporting verbs (e.g. state, explain). Further qualitative analysis reveals divergent stance-taking strategies: HIs combine subjective viewpoints with information to build emotional connections and solidarity, while MPs adopt an authoritative stance, channeling external evidence to establish credibility. The findings expound the dangers of health disinformation, as HIs tend to base claims on personal beliefs rather than scientific facts, potentially misleading viewers. To address this, MPs should prioritize clear, evidence-based communication and develop interactive strategies to engage online audiences effectively. The study foregrounds the tension between building trust and audience engagement, calling for improved digital literacy to critically assess online health content and the persuasive discursive strategies employed by influencers. Its insights contribute to understanding epistemic stance in digital health communication and offer some recommendations for mitigating misinformation.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages23
JournalAtlantic Journal of Communication
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 23 Jan 2025

Keywords

  • corpus linguistics
  • digital health
  • social media
  • misinformation
  • systemic functional linguistics
  • appraisal theory

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