Representation of Tinnitus in the US Newspaper Media and in Facebook Pages: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Secondary Data

Abstract

BackgroundWhen people with health conditions begin to manage their health issues, one important issue that emerges is the question as to what exactly do they do with the information that they have obtained through various sources (eg, news media, social media, health professionals, friends, and family). The information they gather helps form their opinions and, to some degree, influences their attitudes toward managing their condition.ObjectiveThis study aimed to understand how tinnitus is represented in the US newspaper media and in Facebook pages (ie, social media) using text pattern analysis.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based upon secondary analyses of publicly available data. The 2 datasets (ie, text corpuses) analyzed in this study were generated from US newspaper media during 1980-2017 (downloaded from the database US Major Dailies by ProQuest) and Facebook pages during 2010-2016. The text corpuses were analyzed using the Iramuteq software using cluster analysis and chi-square tests.ResultsThe newspaper dataset had 432 articles. The cluster analysis resulted in 5 clusters, which were named as follows: (1) brain stimulation (26.2%), (2) symptoms (13.5%), (3) coping (19.8%), (4) social support (24.2%), and (5) treatment innovation (16.4%). A time series analysis of clusters indicated a change in the pattern of information presented in newspaper media during 1980-2017 (eg, more emphasis on cluster 5, focusing on treatment inventions). The Facebook dataset had 1569 texts. The cluster analysis resulted in 7 clusters, which were named as: (1) diagnosis (21.9%), (2) cause (4.1%), (3) research and development (13.6%), (4) social support (18.8%), (5) challenges (11.1%), (6) symptoms (21.4%), and (7) coping (9.2%). A time series analysis of clusters indicated no change in information presented in Facebook pages on tinnitus during 2011-2016.ConclusionsThe study highlights the specific aspects about tinnitus that the US newspaper media and Facebook pages focus on, as well as how these aspects change over time. These findings can help health care providers better understand the presuppositions that tinnitus patients may have. More importantly, the findings can help public health experts and health communication experts in tailoring health information about tinnitus to promote self-management, as well as assisting in appropriate choices of treatment for those living with tinnitus.

Representation of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids in the U.S. Newspaper Media: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Secondary Data

“…On the other hand, previous studies on newspaper media and hearing loss show either positive or negative portrayals of hearing loss (e.g., Kensicki, 2001;Koerber et al, 2017). Nevertheless, the current study results are also similar (i.e., showing various themes of discussion, identifying change in patterns over time) to our recent study on representation of tinnitus in the U.S. newspaper media (Manchaiah et al, 2018).…”

“…These steps are necessary in order to convert the whole corpus to easily manageable data sets for further analysis. A more detailed description about this process has been presented in our recent publication (Manchaiah et al, 2018).…”

“…This may differ for different media sources and the media representation in different countries. In addition, we have recently explored how the newspaper media and Facebook pages represent information about tinnitus (Manchaiah, Ratinaud, & Andersson, 2018). In that study, we highlighted specific aspects about tinnitus that the U.S. newspaper media and Facebook pages focus on and how these aspects change over time.…”

“…The objective of the current study was to explore how "hearing loss" and "hearing aids" are represented in the U.S. newspaper media. Based on our recent study on tinnitus (Manchaiah et al, 2018), we hypothesize that the media provides information about various aspects of hearing loss and hearing aids, including symptoms, treatment options, research and development aspects, and so on, with a fairly equal distribution of its content across these themes. In addition, we also hypothesize about the trends involving information change over time to better reflect the practice trends.…”

Benefits and Shortcomings of Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Devices: Analysis of Large Secondary Data Generated From Amazon Customer Reviews

“…The same text corpus was subjected to a time series analysis (i.e., how cluster patterns change over time) to see which cluster was significantly more likely to be appearing in each year (see Figure 2). A detailed description of this cluster analysis method has been presented in a previous manuscript (Manchaiah, Ratinaud, & Andersson, 2018). In addition, chi-square analysis was performed to examine the relationship between clusters and factors, such as the Amazon customer rating and the cost of the device (see Figures 3 and 4).…”