The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Health-Seeking Behaviors and Perceptions of Health Among Surgical Patients: A Descriptive and Cross-Sectional Study

Background/Objectives: The primary goal of this research was to investigate the relationship between the utilization of social media platforms, its influences on health status perceptions and health information-seeking tendencies of individuals who underwent surgical procedures. Methods: This study was designed and executed utilizing a descriptive and cross-sectional design. The research cohort comprised 376 surgical patients selected from operative clinics who satisfied the specified eligibility requirements for participation. Data collection was carried out through a structured Patient Demographic Questionnaire alongside the Health-Seeking Behavior and Health Perception Scales. For statistical evaluation of the gathered data, descriptive metrics, both parametric and non-parametric analytical techniques, and correlation tracking frameworks were employed. Results: According to the study analysis, participants under the age of 54 achieved significantly higher web-based health information-seeking scores (15.79 ± 5.50) than those in the older demographic group (14.10 ± 5.83; t = 2.886, p < 0.05). In terms of gender variations, female patients demonstrated more prominent scores in both digital and comprehensive health-seeking tasks compared to male counterparts (t = 2.316, t = 2.130; p < 0.05). Academic background elicited significant statistical fluctuations across all sub-dimensions (F = 5.655, F = 7.080, F = 7.690, F = 9.877; p < 0.001), revealing that individuals with only primary school education presented the lowest baseline values. Furthermore, individuals restricting their daily internet exposure to one hour or less demonstrated noticeably lower scores than peers maintaining an extended daily digital presence (F = 4.791, F = 4.232, F = 3.549; p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study found that women and individuals with higher levels of education exhibit more frequent online health-seeking behaviors, which were found to be more prominent among individuals who spend more time online and actively use social media platforms.