Changing Cultures: Changing Lives—Mobilising Social Media During a Health Crisis

Introduction: The declaration of COVID 19 pandemic by WHO on 11th March 2020, is the dening global health crisis of the past 100 years. The following Nationwide survey was conducted to ascertain the sea changes this pandemic has brought in the physiatrist practice, patient management and preparing oneself to the challenges of rehabilitation in the POST COVID world. The survey covers the role and importance of social media in medical education and consultation in a POST COVID world. It also sheds light on the nancial implications and personal lifestyle changes that physiatrists are witnessing. A Google form comprising of 74 questions, divided in 3 se Material &Methods: ctions, was used to gather the requisite data on :- A) PRECOVID practice, management and lifestyle; B) Life during COVID pandemic; and C) Anticipated changes in POST COVID era. The survey was circulated to 400 physiatrist via various interactive groups who have been practicing either independently or in govt setups and associated hospitals nationwide. They were requested to submit their responses in a period of 30 days. In PRECOVID era an average Result: physiatrist was nely balancing his profession, personal lifestyle, learning and recreation. The LOCKDOWN clamped their practice which lead to nancial drought but hardly made a dent in productivity by engaging in webinars, reading and researching. The POST COVID time demands implementation of newer safety protocols like changes in setup, regulating the patient trafc, limiting daily procedures, engaging in distance learning through virtual conferences, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and constructing proper protocols for pulmonary, neurological and musculoskeletal rehabilitation programs for patients post recovery from COVID19, especially the patients weaning from ventilators. Conclusion: The effect of COVID19 demands major change in physiatrist professional practice like limiting consultation, following safety protocols, COVID testing, preparing consolidated program for POSTCOVID sequel. Social media is rightly poised to be a major tool for education, consultation, marketing and awareness. The role of teleconsultation needs to be reprised, recognised and regularised. Webinars and virtual conferences will nd more takers in future.

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COVID-19 as an “Infodemic” in Public Health: Critical Role of the Social Media

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2021.610623 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Debanjan Banerjee ◽

K. S. Meena

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Social Media ◽

Critical Role ◽

Global Public Health ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Multiple Sources ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

The Impact

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as a significant and global public health crisis. Besides the rising number of cases and fatalities, the outbreak has also affected economies, employment and policies alike. As billions are being isolated at their homes to contain the infection, the uncertainty gives rise to mass hysteria and panic. Amidst this, there has been a hidden epidemic of “information” that makes COVID-19 stand out as a “digital infodemic” from the earlier outbreaks. Repeated and detailed content about the virus, geographical statistics, and multiple sources of information can all lead to chronic stress and confusion at times of crisis. Added to this is the plethora of misinformation, rumor and conspiracy theories circulating every day. With increased digitalization, media penetration has increased with a more significant number of people aiding in the “information pollution.” In this article, we glance at the unique evolution of COVID-19 as an “infodemic” in the hands of social media and the impact it had on its spread and public reaction. We then look at the ways forward in which the role of social media (as well as other digital platforms) can be integrated into social and public health, for a better symbiosis, “digital balance” and pandemic preparedness for the ongoing crisis and the future.

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Twitter, Telepractice, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Social Media Content Analysis

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2021_ajslp-21-00034 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Kristen Weidner ◽

Joneen Lowman ◽

Anne Fleischer ◽

Kyle Kosik ◽

Peyton Goodbread ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Technology Implementation ◽

Scale Up ◽

Media Content Analysis ◽

Data Set ◽

Implementation Framework ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Wide Scale ◽

Twitter Users

Purpose Telepractice was extensively utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about issues experienced during the wide-scale rollout of a service delivery model that was novel to many. Social media research is a way to unobtrusively analyze public communication, including during a health crisis. We investigated the characteristics of tweets about telepractice through the lens of an established health technology implementation framework. Results can help guide efforts to support and sustain telehealth beyond the pandemic context. Method We retrieved a historical Twitter data set containing tweets about telepractice from the early months of the pandemic. Tweets were analyzed using a concurrent mixed-methods content analysis design informed by the nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework. Results Approximately 2,200 Twitter posts were retrieved, and 820 original tweets were analyzed qualitatively. Volume of tweets about telepractice increased in the early months of the pandemic. The largest group of Twitter users tweeting about telepractice was a group of clinical professionals. Tweet content reflected many, but not all, domains of the NASSS framework. Conclusions Twitter posting about telepractice increased during the pandemic. Although many tweets represented topics expected in technology implementation, some represented phenomena were potentially unique to speech-language pathology. Certain technology implementation topics, notably sustainability, were not found in the data. Implications for future telepractice implementation and further research are discussed.

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Covid-19, the perfect time to broaden our horizons about social media use in oncology? A survey study with healthcare professionals caring for youth with cancer

10.21203/rs.3.rs-303214/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Rost ◽

Vittoria Espeli ◽

Marc Ansari ◽

Nicholas von der Weid ◽

Bernice Elger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Media Use ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Young Patients ◽

Adolescent And Young Adult ◽

Survey Study ◽

Ethical Guidelines ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Health Crisis

Abstract Purpose The study aims to explore the attitudes of Swiss healthcare professionals towards the use of social media in adolescent and young adult oncology and to examine whether the ongoing social restrictions due COVID-19 might have altered these attitudes. Methods This study was cross-sectional in design. The subjects were healthcare providers working in pediatric or adult oncology settings in Switzerland. We performed descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. Results While considered useful, only a small minority of participants actually used social media for professional reasons and considered themselves skillful in using these platforms. Although institutional guidelines were deemed crucial to improve social media use, many respondents seemed unaware of their existence. Only a minority reported an impact of Covid-19 on their attitudes towards the professional implementation of social media. Conclusion The global health crisis creates important challenges for young patients with cancer and their healthcare providers. In times of social restrictions, social media may be promising tools to facilitate health information provision, connectivity and patient care. Virtual mentorship and target social media training interventions might be the best way to improve familiarity with social media and with ethical guidelines for their use.

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Detecting sentiment dynamics and clusters of Twitter users for trending topics in COVID-19 pandemic

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0253300 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0253300

Author(s):

Md Shoaib Ahmed ◽

Tanjim Taharat Aurpa ◽

Md Musfique Anwar

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Perceptions ◽

Intervention Strategies ◽

User Generated Content ◽

Time Intervals ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Public Health Crisis ◽

Significant Public Health ◽

Concerns Expressed by Chinese Social Media Users During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Content Analysis of Sina Weibo Microblogging Data (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.22152 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Junze Wang ◽

Ying Zhou ◽

Wei Zhang ◽

Richard Evans ◽

Chengyan Zhu

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

User Behavior ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Web Crawler ◽

Health Crisis ◽

User Behavior Analysis ◽

Sina Weibo ◽

Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health crisis that is affecting economies and societies worldwide. During times of uncertainty and unexpected change, people have turned to social media platforms as communication tools and primary information sources. Platforms such as Twitter and Sina Weibo have allowed communities to share discussion and emotional support; they also play important roles for individuals, governments, and organizations in exchanging information and expressing opinions. However, research that studies the main concerns expressed by social media users during the pandemic is limited. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the main concerns raised and discussed by citizens on Sina Weibo, the largest social media platform in China, during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS We used a web crawler tool and a set of predefined search terms (New Coronavirus Pneumonia, New Coronavirus, and COVID-19) to investigate concerns raised by Sina Weibo users. Textual information and metadata (number of likes, comments, retweets, publishing time, and publishing location) of microblog posts published between December 1, 2019, and July 32, 2020, were collected. After segmenting the words of the collected text, we used a topic modeling technique, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), to identify the most common topics posted by users. We analyzed the emotional tendencies of the topics, calculated the proportional distribution of the topics, performed user behavior analysis on the topics using data collected from the number of likes, comments, and retweets, and studied the changes in user concerns and differences in participation between citizens living in different regions of mainland China. RESULTS Based on the 203,191 eligible microblog posts collected, we identified 17 topics and grouped them into 8 themes. These topics were pandemic statistics, domestic epidemic, epidemics in other countries worldwide, COVID-19 treatments, medical resources, economic shock, quarantine and investigation, patients’ outcry for help, work and production resumption, psychological influence, joint prevention and control, material donation, epidemics in neighboring countries, vaccine development, fueling and saluting antiepidemic action, detection, and study resumption. The mean sentiment was positive for 11 topics and negative for 6 topics. The topic with the highest mean of retweets was domestic epidemic, while the topic with the highest mean of likes was quarantine and investigation. CONCLUSIONS Concerns expressed by social media users are highly correlated with the evolution of the global pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has provided a platform for Chinese government departments and organizations to better understand public concerns and demands. Similarly, social media has provided channels to disseminate information about epidemic prevention and has influenced public attitudes and behaviors. Government departments, especially those related to health, can create appropriate policies in a timely manner through monitoring social media platforms to guide public opinion and behavior during epidemics.

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Online Discourse in the Context of COVID-19, the First Health Crisis in China after the Advent of Mobile Social Media: A Content Analysis of China’s Weibo and Baidu

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci9100167 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 167

Author(s):

Christian Carvajal-Miranda ◽

Luis Mañas-Viniegra ◽

Li Liang

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Online Media ◽

Online Discourse ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Media Environment ◽

The Social ◽

Media Platform ◽

Investigation Period ◽

Universal Health

The COVID-19 epidemic was the first universal health crisis since China entered the era of mobile social media. When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) broke out in 2003, it was not until almost six years later that Weibo was born, marking China’s entry into the era of mobile social media (Weixin 2020). In this context, this research analysed the role of the social media platform Weibo and the Internet search browser Baidu, in a government controlled online media environment, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to undertake this study, we applied the use of content and sentiment analysis to the discourse identified through the topics published during the investigation period, which encompassed 15 December 2019 until 15 March 2020. From the findings of this study, we concluded that, during the pre- and post-COVID-19 period, there was an important presence of social and lifestyle topic categories dominating the online discourse, which dramatically changed in correlation to the increasing spread of the disease. Additionally, there was a marked absence of topics in relation to economic and political information, and there was a notable absence of an official Government “voice” generating topics.

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Social Media for Crisis Communication in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: A Study of NCDC

Journal of Media Research ◽

10.24193/jmr.40.3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (2 (40)) ◽

pp. 45-69

Author(s):

Beryl EHONDOR ◽

Christiana UNAKALAMBA

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Crisis Communication ◽

Media Use ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Study Data ◽

Communication Policy ◽

Crisis Communications ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Health Crisis ◽

High Level

Several scholars have studied social media use for crisis com- munication. However, few studies have been carried out to investigate so- cial media deployment during a public health crisis, such as the Corona- virus outbreak. This study accessed public awareness and engagement of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)’s social media use for crisis communications during the Coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria. It also as- sessed the influence of communication towards public positive behavioural adjustments. The study data was gathered via a survey of 400 citizens and Facebook users and analysed using excel and SPSS. The study found public awareness of the NCDC social media communications during the outbreak; there was also a public behavioural adjustment to NCDC’s recommended preventive behaviours. However, there was a low engagement in NCDC’s crisis communication via Facebook. The study reveals a high level of public uncertainty about NCDC Facebook communications and a change in public opinion about the Coronavirus. This study concludes that this situation could result from competing information about the Coronavirus on social media during the COVID outbreak and recommended further studies in this area. Findings are helpful for health communication policy reviews, strategic crisis communication assessments, appraisal of similar agencies, and further research.

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Rethinking Religious Festivals in the Era of Digital Ethnography

Social Analysis ◽

10.3167/sa.2020.650107 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 65 (1) ◽

pp. 113-122

Author(s):

Chiara Cocco ◽

Aleida Bertran

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Seventeenth Century ◽

Global Health ◽

The Body ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Digital Ethnography ◽

Methodological Challenges ◽

Religious Festivals ◽

Ethnographic Data

The Festival of Sant’Efisio has been carried out for centuries in Sardinia, Italy, to honor a vow made to the Saint after a plague in the seventeenth century. As a result of the global health crisis in 2020, the Festival was performed mainly through social media. Studying this event under such conditions accentuated the inherent complexity of interpreting ethnographic data from religious festivals, in which the body, emotions, and participation play a fundamental role. Emphasizing the hybridity of online and offline worlds, we reflect on how fieldwork has been transformed by COVID-19 through a reflexive account of the methodological challenges of online festival ethnography.

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Policy response, social media and science journalism for the sustainability of the public health system amid the COVID-19 outbreak: The Vietnam lessons

10.31235/osf.io/cfw8x ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Viet-Phuong La ◽

Thanh-Hang Pham ◽

Toan Manh Ho ◽

NGUYỄN Minh Hoàng ◽

Nguyen Phuc Khanh Linh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Social Media ◽

High Volume ◽

Policy Response ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Science Journalism ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Science Community ◽

The Media ◽

The Government

Having geographical proximity and a high volume of trade with China, the first country to record an outbreak of the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Vietnam was expected to have a high risk of transmission. However, as of 4 April 2020, in comparison to attempts to containing the disease around the world, responses from Vietnam are seen as prompt and effective in protecting the interests of its citizens, with 239 confirmed cases and no fatalities. This study analyzes the situation in terms of Vietnam’s policy response, social media and science journalism. A self-made web crawl engine was used to scan and collect official media news related to COVID-19 between the beginning of January and April 4, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 14,952 news items. The findings shed light on how Vietnam—despite being under-resourced—has demonstrated political readiness to combat the emerging pandemic since the earliest days. Timely communication on any developments of the outbreak from the government and the media, combined with up-to-date research on the new virus by the Vietnamese science community, have altogether provided reliable sources of information. By emphasizing the need for immediate and genuine cooperation between government, civil society and private individuals, the case study offers valuable lessons for other nations concerning not only the concurrent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but also the overall responses to a public health crisis.

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