scholarly journals The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senqi Zhang ◽  
Li Sun ◽  
Daiwei Zhang ◽  
Pin Li ◽  
Yue Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
The United States ◽  
Allocation Model ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Demographic Composition ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mental Health Concerns ◽  
Twitter Users

AbstractBackgroundMental health illness is a growing problem in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health concerns (such as fear and loneliness) have been actively discussed on social media.ObjectiveIn this study, we aim to examine mental health discussions on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns.MethodsCOVID-19 related tweets from March 5th, 2020 to January 31st, 2021 were collected through Twitter streaming API using COVID-19 related keywords (e.g., “corona”, “covid19”, “covid”). By further filtering using mental health keywords (e.g., “depress”, “failure”, “hopeless”), we extracted mental health-related tweets from the US. Topic modeling using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model was conducted to monitor users’ discussions surrounding mental health concerns. Demographic inference using deep learning algorithms (including Face++ and Ethnicolr) was performed to infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsWe observed a positive correlation between mental health concerns on Twitter and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Topic modeling showed that “stay-at-home”, “death poll” and “politics and policy” were the most popular topics in COVID-19 mental health tweets. Among Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the pandemic, Males, White, and 30-49 age group people were more likely to express mental health concerns. In addition, Twitter users from the east and west coast had more mental health concerns.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on mental health concerns on Twitter in the US. Certain groups of people (such as Males, White) were more likely to have mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Mental Health Concerns Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter in the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiwei Zhang ◽  
Yue Liu ◽  
Senqi Zhang ◽  
Li Sun ◽  
Pin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Allocation Model ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Mental Health Concerns ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
The Uk

AbstractBackgroundAmid the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health-related symptoms (such as depression and anxiety) have been actively mentioned on social media.ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to monitor mental health concerns on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK), and assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health concerns of Twitter users.MethodsWe collected COVID-19 and mental health-related tweets from the UK between March 5, 2020 and January 31, 2021 through the Twitter Streaming API. We conducted topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation model to examine discussions about mental health concerns. Deep learning algorithms including Face++ were used to infer the demographic characteristics (age and gender) of Twitter users who expressed mental health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsWe showed a positive correlation between COVID-19-related mental health concerns on Twitter and the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Geographic analysis showed that populated urban areas have a higher proportion of Twitter users with mental health concerns compared to England as a whole. Topic modeling showed that general concerns, COVID-19 skeptics, and Death toll were the top topics discussed in mental health-related tweets. Demographic analysis showed that middle-aged and older adults might be more likely to suffer from mental health issues or express their mental health concerns on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has noticeable effects on mental health concerns on Twitter in the UK, which varied among demographic and geographic groups.

Abuse and Mental Health Concerns Among HIV-Infected Haitian Women Living in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. S62-S69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Glémaud ◽  
Lourdes Illa ◽  
Marisa Echenique ◽  
Victoria Bustamente-Avellaneda ◽  
Shirley Gazabon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Haitian Women ◽  
Mental Health Concerns

scholarly journals Protective and Non-Protective Factors of Mental Health Distress in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 1377
Author(s):  
Cristian Lieneck ◽  
Michele Bosworth ◽  
Eric Weaver ◽  
Katharine Heinemann ◽  
Janki Patel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Protective Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Health Distress ◽  
Mental Health Concerns ◽  
Mental Health Distress ◽  
The U.S

Background and objectives: Health care organizations continue to respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic and an ongoing array of related mental health concerns. These pandemic-related challenges continue to be experienced by both the U.S. population and those abroad. Materials and methods: This systematic review queried three research databases to identify applicable studies related to protective and non-protective factors of mental health distress experienced during the pandemic within the United States. Results: Three primary factors were identified as protective factors, potentially helping to moderate the incidence of mental distress during the pandemic: demographics, personal support/self-care resources, and income/financial concerns. Researchers also identified these same three constructs of non-protective factors of mental health distress, as well as two additional variables: health/social status and general knowledge/government mistrust. Conclusions: This systematic review has identified protective and non-protective factors of mental health distress experienced in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic (to date) that can further assist medical providers in the U.S. and beyond as the pandemic and related mental health concerns continue at a global level.

Acculturative Stress and Bicultural Stress

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Romero ◽  
Brandy Piña-Watson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Acculturative Stress ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Conflict ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
The Us ◽  
Bicultural Stress

This chapter discusses the concepts of acculturative and bicultural stress, the theory and method behind the measurement, and the implications of the US immigration policy context for stress. The central sources of acculturative and bicultural stress are reviewed, including intergroup discrimination, language stress, intragroup marginalization, and family cultural conflict. In particular, literature is reviewed that examines the association between mental health and acculturative or bicultural stress. Extant research does demonstrate that degree of stress varies for individuals and that acculturative/bicultural stress is experienced not only by immigrants but also by minorities in the United States. Therefore, the present chapter reviews literature that connects the acculturative/bicultural stress process across generations. The immigration context is considered for future research in the area of acculturation and stress.

Prisoner Experiences

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn Moore
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Women Prisoners ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Personal Experiences

The variables impacting how one experiences imprisonment are far ranging. George Jackson (1994), a pivotal character in American penal history, wrote that, “[b]lackmen born in the [United States] and fortunate enough to live past the age of eighteen are conditioned to accept the inevitability of prison” (p. 4). Ruth Wyner (2002), incarcerated 40 years after Jackson under vastly different circumstances, describes a very different sort of bleakness associated with her incarceration: One evening, just before I settled down to try to sleep, I allowed myself to remember my daughter in a way that I usually suppressed: remembering and feeling all the love that I had for her, every bit. A huge chasm grew inside me, dark and raw, and my throat constricted as I felt enveloped by the sadness. This was what was inside of me when I allowed myself to touch it. (p. 156) Such personal experiences of incarceration offer a window into how prisons function, or often more correctly, fail to function, from the point of view of the prisoner. These perspectives are vitally important to a fulsome understanding of incarceration because prisoners and their experiences paint a picture of confinement that is patently different from those described by penal officials and governments. There are numerous issues that shape the experiences of confinement, both historically and in the present day, a list longer than can be adequately addressed in this entry. Still, there are key concerns that recur in the literature and in ongoing debates about incarceration. Included here are human rights abuses, overcrowding, the overuse of solitary confinement, the situation of women prisoners, the incarceration of indigenous peoples, and health, especially mental health concerns.

scholarly journals Characterization of Vaccine Tweets During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak in the United States: Topic Modeling Analysis

10.2196/25636 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. e25636
Author(s):  
Li Crystal Jiang ◽  
Tsz Hang Chu ◽  
Mengru Sun
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Public Concerns

Background During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, developing safe and effective coronavirus vaccines was considered critical to arresting the spread of the disease. News and social media discussions have extensively covered the issue of coronavirus vaccines, with a mixture of vaccine advocacies, concerns, and oppositions. Objective This study aimed to uncover the emerging themes in Twitter users’ perceptions and attitudes toward vaccines during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods This study employed topic modeling to analyze tweets related to coronavirus vaccines at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (February 21 to March 20, 2020). We created a predefined query (eg, “COVID” AND “vaccine”) to extract the tweet text and metadata (number of followers of the Twitter account and engagement metrics based on likes, comments, and retweeting) from the Meltwater database. After preprocessing the data, we tested Latent Dirichlet Allocation models to identify topics associated with these tweets. The model specifying 20 topics provided the best overall coherence, and each topic was interpreted based on its top associated terms. Results In total, we analyzed 100,209 tweets containing keywords related to coronavirus and vaccines. The 20 topics were further collapsed based on shared similarities, thereby generating 7 major themes. Our analysis characterized 26.3% (26,234/100,209) of the tweets as News Related to Coronavirus and Vaccine Development, 25.4% (25,425/100,209) as General Discussion and Seeking of Information on Coronavirus, 12.9% (12,882/100,209) as Financial Concerns, 12.7% (12,696/100,209) as Venting Negative Emotions, 9.9% (9908/100,209) as Prayers and Calls for Positivity, 8.1% (8155/100,209) as Efficacy of Vaccine and Treatment, and 4.9% (4909/100,209) as Conspiracies about Coronavirus and Its Vaccines. Different themes demonstrated some changes over time, mostly in close association with news or events related to vaccine developments. Twitter users who discussed conspiracy theories, the efficacy of vaccines and treatments, and financial concerns had more followers than those focused on other vaccine themes. The engagement level—the extent to which a tweet being retweeted, quoted, liked, or replied by other users—was similar among different themes, but tweets venting negative emotions yielded the lowest engagement. Conclusions This study enriches our understanding of public concerns over new vaccines or vaccine development at early stages of the outbreak, bearing implications for influencing vaccine attitudes and guiding public health efforts to cope with infectious disease outbreaks in the future. This study concluded that public concerns centered on general policy issues related to coronavirus vaccines and that the discussions were considerably mixed with political views when vaccines were not made available. Only a small proportion of tweets focused on conspiracy theories, but these tweets demonstrated high engagement levels and were often contributed by Twitter users with more influence.

Mental Health Services in Transition: the United States and the United Kingdom

1992 ◽  
Vol 161 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Raftery
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

Mental health services are of interest not only because of the large burden they impose, but also because they have been subject to more change than virtually any other type of health service over the past four decades. Although both the US and UK have taken to ‘deinstitutionalisation’ with enthusiasm, the US has so far proceeded somewhat further down that road than the UK. While both countries face similar problems, the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 may now lead to considerable further changes in the UK.

scholarly journals Public Reactions towards the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter in the United Kingdom and the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canruo Zou ◽  
Xueting Wang ◽  
Zidian Xie ◽  
Dongmei Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Twitter Users

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally since December 2019. Twitter is a popular social media platform with active discussions about the COVID-19 pandemic. The public reactions on Twitter about the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries have not been studied. This study aims to compare the public reactions towards the COVID-19 pandemic between the United Kingdom and the United States from March 6, 2020 to April 2, 2020. Data: The numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom and the United States were obtained from the 1Point3Acres website. Twitter data were collected using COVID-19 related keywords from March 6, 2020 to April 2, 2020. Methods: Temporal analyses were performed on COVID-19 related Twitter posts (tweets) during the study period to show daily trends and hourly trends. The sentiment scores of the tweets on COVID-19 were analyzed and associated with the policy announcements and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Topic modeling was conducted to identify related topics discussed with COVID-19 in the United Kingdom and the United States. Results: The number of daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom was significantly lower than that in the United States during our study period. There were 3,556,442 COVID-19 tweets in the United Kingdom and 16,280,065 tweets in the United States during the study period. The number of COVID-19 tweets per 10,000 Twitter users in the United Kingdom was lower than that in the United States. The sentiment scores of COVID-19 tweets in the United Kingdom were less negative than those in the United States. The topics discussed in COVID-19 tweets in the United Kingdom were mostly about the gratitude to government and health workers, while the topics in the United States were mostly about the global COVID-19 pandemic situation. Conclusion: Our study showed correlations between the public reactions towards the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter and the confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as the policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Movement-Based Therapies for Resettled Refugee Populations in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayathri S. Kumar ◽  
Gwen Soffer ◽  
Danielle Begg
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Mental Health Interventions ◽  
Western Psychotherapy

ABSTRACT Persons who are refugees may experience mental health concerns, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, due to multiple layers of trauma experienced before, during, and after fleeing their country of origin. Although several health system– and community-based mental health interventions have been found to be effective in improving mental health outcomes among persons who are refugees in the United States, these services are underutilized among refugees. Movement-based and mind body–focused practices, such as yoga, may play an important role as complementary mental health supports for refugees. Data on the effectiveness of these practices in these populations are limited, and further research is needed. However, these practices can still be introduced in a safe way by trained professionals and offered as adjunctive therapeutic approaches to traditional Western psychotherapy options. We offer recommendations for clinical providers working with persons who are refugees and for movement-based facilitators and therapists on how to introduce these practices to resettled refugee populations in the United States.

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