Public Knowledge, Perception and Behaviour towards Social Media-Based Medical Crowdfunding Campaigns in Nigeria

Background: Healthcare financing is becoming increasingly expensive, and the associated burden of out-of-pocket medical expenditures continues to give strong impetus to social media-based medical crowdfunding in Nigeria. Regrettably, the successful deployment of online medical crowdfunding is strongly inhibited by the tendency of such campaigns to not only fall below expectations but also depend on several socio-psychological factors. Thus, this study examines the extent of public knowledge, perception, and behaviour towards social media-based medical crowdfunding campaigns in Nigeria. Method: The study adopted the survey research method and used an online questionnaire to collect data from 1,035 social media users in Nigeria recruited through the snowball sampling technique. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics of Mean (`X) and Standard Deviation (SD). Results: The respondents demonstrated a considerably high level of knowledge of medical crowdfunding, especially the visual and narrative strategies of such campaigns (`X = 3.32; SD = 1.03). Also, the respondents demonstrated a favourable perception (`X = 3.88; SD = 0.98) and behaviour towards social media-based medical crowdfunding campaigns (`X = 3.57; SD = 0.93), although many of them are worried about the potential activities of fraudulent campaign initiators and promoters. Conclusion: Social media users in Nigeria are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about medical crowdfunding and more receptive to the initiative.