Assessing the effectiveness of disease awareness programs: Evidence from Google Trends data for the world awareness dates

Shariatpanahi, Seyed Peyman; Jafari, Afshin; Sadeghipour, Maryam; Azadeh-Fard, Nasibeh; Majidzadeh‐A, Keivan; Farahmand, Leila; Ansari, Alireza Madjid

doi:10.1016/j.tele.2017.03.007

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…As for practical implications, this study suggests that risk communicators and public health officials should pay closer attention to disparities in the engagement of SNS communication. SNS have recently been utilized in order to promote infectious disease awareness because they are known to be cost effective and relatively influential (Shariatpanahi et al 2017). Given the benefits of SNS communication during an emerging epidemic, they need to develop the strategies that encourage people facing a digital divide with SNS (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of expressing and receiving information on social networking sites during MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea

Yoo

Choi

2019

Journal of Risk Research

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Social networking sites (SNS) are becoming one of the most significant platforms for social interaction and information exchange in epidemics. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about what facilitates or hinders individuals' engagement in information exchange in the event of an infectious disease outbreak. This study examined the effects of potential predictors that might be associated with the expression and reception of information on SNS during the South Korea Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak. Analysis of an online survey among 1000 adults from the general population of South Korea showed that expressing and receiving MERS-related information were predicted differentially by diverse social-demographic, socioeconomic , and psychosocial factors. Among psychosocial characteristics, risk perceptions and self-efficacy interacted with each other to predict the expression and reception of MERS-related information. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of expressing and receiving information on social networking sites during MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea

Yoo

Choi

2019

Journal of Risk Research

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“…The output from the tool is converted from the absolute search volume and is reported as a relative volume named “search interest,” which is assigned a numerical value between 0 and 100. We refer to this value as the relative search volume (RSV) [ 20 , 28 ]. An elevated RSV is indicative of a higher proportion of users searching a topic within a set location and time period.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuation of Public Interest in COVID-19 in the United States: Retrospective Analysis of Google Trends Search Data

Husain¹,

Briggs²,

Lefebvre³

et al. 2020

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background In the absence of vaccines and established treatments, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are fundamental tools to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmission. NPIs require public interest to be successful. In the United States, there is a lack of published research on the factors that influence public interest in COVID-19. Using Google Trends, we examined the US level of public interest in COVID-19 and how it correlated to testing and with other countries. Objective The aim of this study was to determine how public interest in COVID-19 in the United States changed over time and the key factors that drove this change, such as testing. US public interest in COVID-19 was compared to that in countries that have been more successful in their containment and mitigation strategies. Methods In this retrospective study, Google Trends was used to analyze the volume of internet searches within the United States relating to COVID-19, focusing on dates between December 31, 2019, and March 24, 2020. The volume of internet searches related to COVID-19 was compared to that in other countries. Results Throughout January and February 2020, there was limited search interest in COVID-19 within the United States. Interest declined for the first 21 days of February. A similar decline was seen in geographical regions that were later found to be experiencing undetected community transmission in February. Between March 9 and March 12, 2020, there was a rapid rise in search interest. This rise in search interest was positively correlated with the rise of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 (6.3, 95% CI −2.9 to 9.7; P<.001). Within the United States, it took 52 days for search interest to rise substantially after the first positive case; in countries with more successful outbreak control, search interest rose in less than 15 days. Conclusions Containment and mitigation strategies require public interest to be successful. The initial level of COVID-19 public interest in the United States was limited and even decreased during a time when containment and mitigation strategies were being established. A lack of public interest in COVID-19 existed in the United States when containment and mitigation policies were in place. Based on our analysis, it is clear that US policy makers need to develop novel methods of communicating COVID-19 public health initiatives.

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“…Shariatpanahi et al (2017) used GT data to assess the impact of disease awareness program by dynamics modeling the GT data which considers two ways of being aware of diseases, one of which was people's communication and the other was by health events. They studied four diseases with corresponding events and quantitatively estimated the strength of the impact of the events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the impact of health awareness events on Google search frequency

Hao

Liu

2019

Preventive Medicine Reports

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Over two hundred health awareness events take place in the United States in order to educate the public about various diseases. It would be informative and instructive for the organizations to know the impact of these events, although such information could be difficult to measure. We investigated whether 46 selected events attract the public attention by increasing the search frequencies of certain keywords. Internet search data from 2004 to 2017 were downloaded from Google Trend (GT). Three statistical methods including Transfer Function Noise modeling, Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, and Binomial inference were conducted. Our study showed that 10 health awareness events resulted in increased search frequencies in the event months, and 28 events did not, with the rest being classified as unclear.

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Assessing the effectiveness of disease awareness programs: Evidence from Google Trends data for the world awareness dates

Cited by 13 publications

References 37 publications

Predictors of expressing and receiving information on social networking sites during MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea

Predictors of expressing and receiving information on social networking sites during MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea

Fluctuation of Public Interest in COVID-19 in the United States: Retrospective Analysis of Google Trends Search Data

Evaluating the impact of health awareness events on Google search frequency

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