Public discourses on prenatal and newborn screening within the social media informational landscape: a survey of Italian-speaking and German-speaking communities (2013–2023)

This study examines public discourses on prenatal and newborn screening within
Italian-speaking and German-speaking Facebook communities from 2013 to 2023.
Using topic modeling analysis, the research identifies distinct discursive
healthscapes that shape emerging forms of digital biocitizenship in the context of
expanding biomedical scrutiny. The analysis reveals five main healthscapes in the
Italian corpus and three in the German corpus, encompassing themes such as public
advocacy, support for rare diseases, commodification of health services, and de-
medicalization of pregnancy. These healthscapes reflect a shift towards active bio-
digital citizenship, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for
reproductive health through both medical and alternative approaches. The study
highlights ambivalences within these discursive spaces, which simultaneously
reinforce and critique the growing commodification of reproductive medicine.
While some healthscapes promote prenatal tests as consumer products, others
contest this commercialization, advocating for more equitable access to healthcare.
The findings demonstrate how social media platforms serve as critical spaces for
shaping public understanding of prenatal and newborn screening. They may
support public health advocacy, fundraising, and mutual support among affected
families, while also providing venues for challenging dominant biomedical
narratives. This research contributes to our understanding of how digital media co-
produce the content and meaning of contemporary bio-digital citizenship,
pluralizing biomedical "truths" and relocating biomedicine within the realms of
experience, vital politics, and healthcare systems.