Exploring experiences of COVID‐19‐positive individuals from social media posts

Guo, Jiawen; Sisler, Shawna M.; Wang, Ching‐Yu; Wallace, Andrea S.

doi:10.1111/ijn.12986

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In the long term, this could include improved professional facilitation of (and intervention in) online health communities, which may aid in combating the spread of digital misinformation. As demonstrated in previous research, tracking and analysis of web-based diagnosis sharing may also allow health professionals to better understand patient experiences, including the symptomology of rapidly spreading acute illnesses such as COVID-19 [39][40][41]. This may help inform earlier and more accurate public health messaging.…”

Section: Lessons From Online Health Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 82%

Diagnosis Disclosure and Peer-to-Peer Information Seeking Among COVID-19–Infected Social Media Users: Survey of US-Based Adults (Preprint)

Neely,

Hao

2023

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Research examining online health communities suggests that individuals affected by chronic health conditions can obtain valuable information and social support through participation in peer-to-peer web-based information exchanges, including information sharing and seeking behaviors. The risks and rewards of these same behaviors in the case of acute illnesses, such as COVID-19, are less well understood, though there is reason to believe that individuals with COVID-19 and other acute illnesses may accrue similar benefits. OBJECTIVE This study examines the propensity of American adults to disclose and discuss their COVID-19 diagnosis and symptoms on social media while actively infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as to engage in peer-to-peer information seeking in order to better understand the illness that they are experiencing. Additionally, this study seeks to identify the motivations for these behaviors as well as their subsequent impacts on perceived social connectedness and health anxiety in patients with COVID-19. METHODS We conducted a representative survey of 2500 US-based adults using a sample purchased through an industry-leading market research provider. Participants were selected through a stratified quota sampling approach to ensure a representative sample of the US population. Balanced quotas were determined (by region of the country) for gender, age, race, ethnicity, and political affiliation. Responses were analyzed from 946 participants who reported having an active social media account and testing positive for COVID-19 at least once since the start of the pandemic. RESULTS The results show that only a small portion of social media users (166/946, 18%) chose to disclose and discuss their COVID-19 diagnosis while infected with the virus. However, among those who did, an overwhelming majority (206/251, 82%) said that doing so helped them feel more connected and supported while infected with the virus. A larger percentage of the 946 respondents (n=319, 34%) engaged in peer-to-peer information seeking while infected with COVID-19. Among those who did, a large majority (301/319, 94%) said that doing so was “helpful,” but more than one-third (115/319, 36%) said that reading about other people’s experiences made them “more worried” about having COVID-19, while 33% (108/319) said that it made them “less worried.” Illness severity and political affiliation were significant predictors of both information sharing and seeking. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that the benefits (and risks) associated with online health communities are germane to patients with acute illnesses such as COVID-19. It is recommended that public health officials and health care providers take a proactive approach to cultivating professionally moderated forums supporting peer-to-peer engagement during future outbreaks of COVID-19 and other acute illnesses in order to improve patient outcomes and promote social support and connectedness among infected patients.

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Section: Lessons From Online Health Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 82%

Diagnosis Disclosure and Peer-to-Peer Information Seeking Among COVID-19–Infected Social Media Users: Survey of US-Based Adults (Preprint)

Neely,

Hao

2023

Preprint

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“…Several studies have analyzed nurses' opinions on social media during the pandemic. Certain studies have used NodeXL, LDAvis, and other visualization tools to analyze the posts by nurses on Twitter (Guo et al, 2021; O'Leary et al, 2022). Furthermore, content analysis has been conducted by collecting photos and texts posted by nurses on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Sina Weibo (Arasli et al, 2020; Chen et al, 2021; Fontanini et al, 2021; Koren et al, 2021; Rossettini et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding early experiences of Chinese frontline nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A text mining and thematic analysis of social media information

Luo

Feng

Wang

et al. 2023

Nursing & Health Sciences

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This study aims to explore the early experiences of frontline nurses at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic in China as expressed through social media posts. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed‐method design. Text mining was used for sentiment analysis. The chi‐square test was used to compare the differences in the composition ratio of sentiment classification of posts in different months. Word frequency was statistically analyzed. Further thematic analysis was also performed. The primary sentiments of the posts were discovered to be positive and neutral. The number of posts containing positive emotions was the lowest in January, peaked in March, and gradually declined in April 2020. The following nurse‐oriented narrative themes were developed: “To see and be seen,” “Moving forward amid adversity and support,” and “Returning to everyday life and constructing meaning.” The sentiments of Chinese nurses in response to the pandemic fluctuated, with positive emotions in the early stage, but it could not be sustained. This study recommends nurses could be encouraged to engage in expressive writing while adhering to ethical guidelines.

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“…These platforms became rich repositories of information about the pandemic. Using this fairly large data sets on social media, studies have applied machine learning and text mining techniques to assess public perceptions, attitudes, sentiments, and emotions pertaining to COVID-19 pandemic [8][9][10], self-reported experiences [11][12][13], clinical trials of vaccines, vaccination mandates [14][15][16], and side effects [17]. Another group of studies has also examined the spread of misinformation about the pandemic through social media [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Role of Nutrition in Enhancing Immunity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Twitter Text-Mining Analysis

Shankar¹,

Ranganathan²,

Venkata³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the spotlight the critical role played by a balanced and healthy diet in bolstering the human immune system. There is burgeoning interest in nutrition-related information on social media platforms like Twitter. There is a critical need to assess and understand public opinion, attitudes, and sentiments toward nutrition-related information shared on Twitter. Objective This study uses text mining to analyze nutrition-related messages on Twitter to identify and analyze how the general public perceives various food groups and diets for improving immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Methods We gathered 71,178 nutrition-related tweets that were posted between January 01, 2020, and September 30, 2020. The Correlated Explanation text mining algorithm was used to identify frequently discussed topics that users mentioned as contributing to immunity building against SARS-CoV-2. We assessed the relative importance of these topics and performed a sentiment analysis. We also qualitatively examined the tweets to gain a closer understanding of nutrition-related topics and food groups. Results Text-mining yielded 10 topics that users discussed frequently on Twitter, viz proteins, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy-related, spices and herbs, fluids, supplements, avoidable foods, and specialty diets. Supplements were the most frequently discussed topic (23,913/71,178, 33.6%) with a higher proportion (20,935/23,913, 87.75%) exhibiting a positive sentiment with a score of 0.41. Consuming fluids (17,685/71,178, 24.85%) and fruits (14,807/71,178, 20.80%) were the second and third most frequent topics with favorable, positive sentiments. Spices and herbs (8719/71,178, 12.25%) and avoidable foods (8619/71,178, 12.11%) were also frequently discussed. Negative sentiments were observed for a higher proportion of avoidable foods (7627/8619, 84.31%) with a sentiment score of –0.39. Conclusions This study identified 10 important food groups and associated sentiments that users discussed as a means to improve immunity. Our findings can help dieticians and nutritionists to frame appropriate interventions and diet programs.

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Exploring experiences of COVID‐19‐positive individuals from social media posts

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Diagnosis Disclosure and Peer-to-Peer Information Seeking Among COVID-19–Infected Social Media Users: Survey of US-Based Adults (Preprint)

Diagnosis Disclosure and Peer-to-Peer Information Seeking Among COVID-19–Infected Social Media Users: Survey of US-Based Adults (Preprint)

Understanding early experiences of Chinese frontline nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A text mining and thematic analysis of social media information

Investigating the Role of Nutrition in Enhancing Immunity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Twitter Text-Mining Analysis

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