{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T17:35:40Z","timestamp":1787333740547,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"BMJ","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>With the rise of digital media, social platforms such as Rednote (Xiaohongshu) have emerged as critical arenas for infertility patients to reconstruct illness perceptions, seek emotional compensation and reclaim their subjectivity. This study identifies the emergence of an \u2018affective folk knowledge system\u2019 through fragmented digital records. Rather than reflecting objective clinical deficiencies, these grass roots narratives highlight a specific perceived gap in psychosocial support from the patients\u2019 subjective perspective. Furthermore, the structural absence of male partners in these narratives underscores a deep-seated gender-role dilemma, where women continue to bear a disproportionate physical and psychological burden. The findings suggest that patient-generated online narratives should serve as a valuable supplementary tool for clinical practice. They provide doctors with insights into the deeply personal, emotional dimensions of infertility. Ultimately, the study highlights how women navigate the bias of \u2018feminized reproductive responsibility\u2019 by building peer solidarity, safeguarding their psychological integrity within the digital landscape.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2026-013898","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T17:20:37Z","timestamp":1787332837000},"page":"medhum-2026-013898","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Narrative characteristics of women with infertility on social media: a case study of Rednote"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"given":"Mengqi","family":"Jin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Reproductive Medical Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Reproductive Medical Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3115","DOI":"10.1097\/CM9.0000000000003838","article-title":"Global, regional, and national prevalence and years lived with disability due to infertility, 1990\u20132021: Results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021","volume":"138","author":"Lin","year":"2025","journal-title":"Chin Med J"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pec.2008.05.024"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"797","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444820968907","article-title":"Involuntary childlessness online: Digital lifelines through blogs and Instagram","volume":"24","author":"Stenstr\u00f6m","year":"2022","journal-title":"New Media & Society"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.4","unstructured":"Shen Q , Cai YH . Calculating fertility: the \u201clove and sorrow\u201d of urban women\u2019s fertility topics on the \u201cXiaohongshu\u201d platform. J Women\u2019s Stud 2024;61\u201372."},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.5","first-page":"130","article-title":"Exploration of online expression and self-presentation of depressed patients on social media platforms: a case study of Xiaohongshu community","volume":"15","author":"Wu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci Technol Commun"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.6","unstructured":"Li ZQ , Wei WQ . Reconstructing emotional connection: Gen Z\u2019s practice of online \u201ctree hollow\u201d confession\u2014a digital ethnographic study based on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Pinecone Listening platforms. China Youth Study 2025;16\u201322. doi:10.19633\/j.cnki.11-2579\/d.2025.0119"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bucher T , Helmond A . The affordances of social media platforms. In: The SAGE Handbook of Social Media. London: SAGE Publications, 2018: 233\u201353.","DOI":"10.4135\/9781473984066.n14"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.8","first-page":"1","article-title":"How are Chinese internet fertility issues constructed? A text analysis based on multiple social media platforms","volume":"46","author":"Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"Northw Popul"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.9","unstructured":"Ku LT . Reproductive medicine in the era of social media: pearls and pitfalls. American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Tech Blog 2025."},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/jmlr.2003.3.4-5.993"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0539018415597793"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.12","unstructured":"Genette G . Narrative Discourse: an Essay in Method. Lewin J , tran. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press, 1980."},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Charon R . Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195166750.001.0001"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"856","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.12109","article-title":"The commodification of patient opinion: the digital patient experience economy in the age of big data","volume":"36","author":"Lupton","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sociol Health Illn"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.15","unstructured":"World Health Organization . Infertility Prevalence Estimates, 1990\u20132021. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2020."},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.16","first-page":"87","article-title":"Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Diagnostic evaluation of the infertile male: a committee opinion","volume":"114","year":"2020","journal-title":"Fertil Steril"},{"key":"2026082110202773000_medhum-2026-013898v1.17","first-page":"675","article-title":"Analysis of epidemiological characteristics of male factors in infertility in China","volume":"25","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue"}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013898","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T17:20:40Z","timestamp":1787332840000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013898"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"references-count":17,"alternative-id":["10.1136\/medhum-2026-013898"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013898","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]}}}