“Don’t Steam It. It is Not Ponmo”: Discourse Issues in Online Medical Counseling in Nigeria

Abstract

In the face of infrastructural and economic hindrances to accessing health services in Nigeria, social media seems to be offering revolutionizing interventions that redefine medical practices. This study explores how Nigerian doctors on Instagram make health information feel relevant, understandable, and persuasive to a broad audience while working within the limits of the platform and the sensitivities of local culture. The study is theoretically anchored on Relevance Theory as proposed by Sperber and Wilson (Citation1986) and Wilson and Sperber (Citation2012). The data consist of 165 medical counseling videos posted on Instagram by two Nigerian medical doctors: Aproko Doctor and Dr. Zobo, between January 2023 and December 2024. The study adopts a qualitative research design and employs content analysis within a discourse pragmatic framework to analyze the data. The findings reveal that the discourses produced in these online medical counseling videos construct biomedical knowledge, not only in a way that resonates with the cultural dispositions of Nigerian audiences but also in a way that keeps the knowledge presentation persuasive and accessible. In this way, the online medical counseling videos become a helpful alternative to physical doctor-patient meetings, and are thus recommended in Nigeria where access to healthcare is challenged. As a contribution to scholarship in medical discourse, this study demonstrates the usefulness of Relevance Theory in explaining medical communication, and in managing the space limitations imposed by the social media platforms such as the Instagram.