Socia Media and Healthcare Technology
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ItemUsing Social Media to Support Requirements Gathering When Users are Not Available( 2022-01-04)The use of mobile health applications has surged in numbers since the advent of smart phones a decade ago. Yet, many mobile applications suffer from low engagement due to poor application design. This could be partially due to the primary users of an eHealth applications being time poor and inaccessible to software developers due to their complex health needs. This study investigated the needs of a complex cohort to establish how an eHealth application could provide support. This investigation used social media to reach the cohort ‘where they were’, without needing to undertake traditional software requirement extraction. The study demonstrated that social media can be used as an effective research tool, not only as a data collection tool to gain insight for a possible mobile application prototype development, but it has demonstrated that social media is a feasible participation tool of User Centred Design (UCD) engagement.
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ItemSocial Media for Exploring Adverse Drug Events Associated with Multiple Sclerosis( 2022-01-04)Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affects 400,000 people in the USA and almost 2.5 million people worldwide. There is no cure for MS. A variety of disease-modifying therapies are currently available. They aim to reduce disease activity that ultimately leads to disability. However, such drugs have adverse effects that vary widely among patients making the choice of a suitable drug particularly challenging. With the proliferation of social media, this research aims to understand the perspective of people with MS on social media (Twitter) in regard to Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) and to analyze ADEs as perceived by MS patients. This study helps in understanding ADEs associated with MS drugs and can further inform future medical research by highlighting and prioritizing additional clinical trials needed to better assess such adverse drug effects.
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ItemNowcasting and Forecasting COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Using Twitter Sentiment( 2022-01-04)Real-time access to information during a pandemic is crucial for mobilizing a response. A sentiment analysis of Twitter posts from the first 90 days of the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. In particular, 2 million English tweets were collected from users in the United States that contained the word ‘covid’ between January 1, 2020 and March 31, 2020. Sentiments were used to model the new case and death counts using data from this time. The results of linear regression and k-nearest neighbors indicate that public sentiments on social media accurately predict both same-day and near future counts of both COVID-19 cases and deaths. Public health officials can use this knowledge to assist in responding to adverse public health events. Additionally, implications for future research and theorizing of social media’s impact on health behaviors are discussed.
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ItemFrom Small to Big: Smartwatch Use in Mitigating COVID-19 – Understanding User Experience from Social Media Content Analysis( 2022-01-04)Smartwatches offer both functions and convenience that can have great potentials for technological interventions. Despite widespread discussion of technological interventions for COVID-19, smartwatch use has received little attention in the literature. This research aims to fill the literature gap by providing a broad understanding of smartwatch use for COVID-19 mitigation. We investigate smartwatch use through content analysis of the data collected from two social media platforms. The method allows us to draw on user experience beyond technological features and functions. In addition to functions, we also identified the concerns of using smartwatches for mitigating COVID-19. Furthermore, we uncovered both similarities and differences between the different social media platforms in terms of functions and concerns of smartwatch use. Our findings have implications for various stakeholders of the smartwatch technology and for mitigating the impact of the pandemic.
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ItemCrisis Communications on Social Media: Insights from Canadian Officials Twitter Presence during COVID-19 Pandemic( 2022-01-04)COVID-19 pandemic is a unique case in crisis management given its length, scale, several different response systems, and public officials' extensive social media use for crisis communication. Leveraging text mining techniques, we examine Canadian officials' presence on Twitter during the pandemic by focusing on their COVID-19-related content. We identified eight themes of discussion that unveil 37 relevant sub-themes. Concentrating on the COVID-19-addressing themes, we reveal that educating citizens on the safety information and keeping them informed with the latest crisis information was the Canadian officials' primary focus during the pandemic. To fight COVID-19, Canadian officials used four policies, and to implement those, they promoted eight measures and practices. According to the volume of generated content, the evolution of COVID-19-addressing themes over time, and their coexistence; Test and trace was the most advocated policy by emphasizing screening the symptoms. To stop the spread of COVID-19, Canadian officials promoted wearing Mask, Social distancing, Hand washing, and Stay home, where Mask and Social distancing were the most frequent practices. Our study contributes to crisis communication and management by depicting how Canadian officials leveraged social media during such a big-scale crisis.
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ItemCOVID-19 Information on YouTube in the Early Pandemic( 2022-01-04)As people sheltered globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, many YouTube videos and channels pivoted to providing COVID-19 information. But were these videos helpful and constructive or did they undermine official public health messaging? This paper addresses these questions through a mixed methods study of COVID-19 videos on YouTube produced from January to May 2020. We find that a preponderance of YouTube COVID-19 videos either came from major news studio outlets or offered official public health communication. While YouTube moved quickly against obvious false messages, other more subtle ones still managed to leak through. Medical information channels presented conflicting information at times, reflecting factors such as medical uncertainties, political currents, and audience pressures associated with uncertain information around a novel pandemic.
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