Examining online discourses responding to mass media information about overdiagnosis and overtreatment

***Background*** It is important to raise public awareness about overdiagnosis and overtreatment (ODx). ODx is a major problem in healthcare. It leads to needless patient suffering, significant avoidable costs to people and to healthcare systems, and a range of other negative flow-on impacts. ODx has been communicated to the public through mass media, including hundreds of articles, videos, radio and podcasts. However, we expect that mass communications about ODx will produce mixed public responses. On the one hand, the public want to know about ODx, and when they are informed about it, they have better health outcomes. On the other hand, the public often find messages about ODx hard to understand; they often misinterpret them or even find them alienating. Presently, little is known how mass communications about ODx are received by the public. This project aims to examine public reactions to ODx mass communications in online spaces. ***The project*** You will examine internet discussions in response to mass media communications about ODx. There are multiple ways this research can be completed. For example, you could examine comments responding to news stories, forum discussions or social media discourses. You will complete an in-depth systematic examination of the chosen content using qualitative (i.e. content analysis) or mixed-methods techniques. This analysis will be used to generate insights into public reactions to ODx information. As well as complete your thesis, you will have the opportunity to transform your work into a peer-reviewed publication, to contribute evidence to expert discourse about public understanding of overdiagnosis. You will receive mentorship from an experienced research team. We will guide you in learning more about research, including obtaining research ethics approval, data collection techniques, data management and analysis. You will improve your writing and develop project management skills. We are a small group within a large research network. We work closely together, and our research centre has excellent opportunities for networking and further development for motivated students. ***About you*** You are interested in how the public understand healthcare information, particularly about ODx or related topics. You can come from a clinical or a non-clinical field, but you have some understanding of the social determinants of health. You are interested in learning relevant research methods, such as content analysis, document analysis, or critical qualitative methods. There is some flexibility in the project to tailor the research to healthcare topics and research approaches that you are interested in. ***About us*** I am an interdisciplinary researcher, applying ideas from sociology, public health and social psychology to examine public understanding of health and healthcare. We are based at an interdisciplinary research centre, and our team includes researchers from rheumatology, implementation science, allied health, health sustainability, evidence appraisal, biostatistics and clinical epidemiology. Our group includes some of the leading experts in the fields of overdiagnosis and medical overuse.