Communication strategies driving online health community patient awareness and engagement investigated within atrial fibrillation context

Online health communities (OHCs) enhance personalized care by connecting patients, professionals and leveraging patient-reported outcomes. This study investigates how communication elements (emotions, patient-generated topics, appeals, and linguistic style) affect patient awareness (click-through-rate) and engagement (average engagement time and community subscriptions) in an atrial fibrillation (AF) OHC. A quasi-randomized online field experiment targeted Dutch adults via Facebook and Instagram with 12 communication concepts, directing them to the AF OHC. From May to June 2023, 795,812 users were reached, generating 18,426 visits, 478 subscriptions, and an average engagement time of 35 s. Communication elements significantly influenced awareness and engagement, with emotions and topics as strongest predictors. Fear was most effective for self-protection topics, love for affiliation and kin care. Expert appeals increased awareness, while testimonials boosted engagement. These findings offer novel insights into the role of communication strategies across patient journey stages, aiding health managers in optimizing patient engagement and OHC impact.