scholarly journals Framing diabetes public health information during Ramadan – a newspaper content analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1750-1759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Wilbur ◽  
Souad Berzou ◽  
Robert Meeds

Objective To evaluate health-related messages in printed media pertaining to diabetes care in Qatar during Ramadan. Methods Qatar national newspapers (Arabic and/or English) published 6 weeks prior to and 4 weeks during Ramadan 2012 were reviewed. Health-related content was identified and characterized according to four different categories including presence of messages pertaining to both diabetes and Ramadan. Articles describing diabetes and Ramadan combined were further evaluated according to specific features of prominence (surrogates for perceived reader importance). Newspapers were grouped by language, and volume and content of coverage were compared between groups. Results A total of 1 467 newspaper issues published during the 2012 review period (781 in Arabic and 686 in English) were analysed. Health-related articles appeared consistently throughout the study period, but few were specifically diabetes-related (66/1095 [6%] Arabic articles versus 34/1250 [2.7%] English articles; P = 0.008). Only 34/1095 (3.1%) Arabic and 23/1 250 (1.8%) English ( P = 0.05) articles pertaining specifically to diabetes management during Ramadan were published. Twenty/34 (59%, Arabic) and 6/23 (26%, English) were published in high prominence positions. Conclusions Opportunity exists to augment the relatively low coverage of diabetes health-related messages in print media during Ramadan.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin Chan ◽  
Viknesh Sounderajah ◽  
Elisabeth Daniels ◽  
Amish Acharya ◽  
Jonathan Clarke ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Recent emergency authorisation and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines by regulatory bodies has generated global attention. As the most popular video-sharing platform globally, YouTube is a potent medium for dissemination of key public health information. Understanding the nature of available content regarding COVID-19 vaccination on this widely used platform is of substantial public health interest. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability and quality of information of YouTube videos regarding COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS For this cross-sectional study, the phrases ‘coronavirus vaccine’ and ‘COVID-19 vaccine’ were searched on the UK version of YouTube on December 10, 2020. The 200 most-viewed videos of each search were extracted and screened for relevance and English language. Video content and characteristics were extracted and independently rated against Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONCode) and DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information by two authors. RESULTS Forty-eight videos, with a combined total view count of 30,100,561, were included in the analysis. Topics addressed comprised: vaccine science (58%), vaccine trials (58%), side effects (48%), efficacy (35%) and manufacturing (17%). Twenty-one percent of videos encouraged continued public health measures. Only 4.2% of videos made non-factual claims. Ninety-eight percent of video content was scored to have low (60%) or medium (38%) adherence to HONCode principles. Educational channels produced by both medical and non-medical professionals achieved significantly higher DISCERN scores than other categories. The highest DISCERN scores were achieved by educational videos produced by medical professionals (64.3 (58.5-66.3)) and the lowest scores by independent users (18 (18-20)). CONCLUSIONS Overall quality and reliability of information on YouTube regarding COVID-19 vaccines remains poor. Videos produced by educational channels, especially by medical professionals, were higher in quality and reliability than those produced by other sources, including health-related organisations. Collaboration between health-related organisations and established medical and educational YouTube content producers provide an opportunity for dissemination of high-quality information regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Such collaboration holds potential as a rapidly implementable public health intervention aiming to engage a wide audience and increase public awareness and knowledge.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohaib R Rufai ◽  
Catey Bunce

ABSTRACT Background It is crucial that world leaders mount effective public health measures in response to COVID-19. Twitter may represent a powerful tool to help achieve this. Here, we explore the role of Twitter as used by Group of Seven (G7) world leaders in response to COVID-19. Methods This was a qualitative study with content analysis. Inclusion criteria were as follows: viral tweets from G7 world leaders, attracting a minimum of 500 ‘likes’; keywords ‘COVID-19’ or ‘coronavirus’; search dates 17 November 2019 to 17 March 2020. We performed content analysis to categorize tweets into appropriate themes and analyzed associated Twitter data. Results Eight out of nine (88.9%) G7 world leaders had verified and active Twitter accounts, with a total following of 85.7 million users. Out of a total 203 viral tweets, 166 (82.8%) were classified as ‘Informative’, of which 48 (28.6%) had weblinks to government-based sources, while 19 (9.4%) were ‘Morale-boosting’ and 14 (6.9%) were ‘Political’. Numbers of followers and viral tweets were not strictly related. Conclusions Twitter may represent a powerful tool for world leaders to rapidly communicate public health information with citizens. We would urge general caution when using Twitter for health information, with a preference for tweets containing official government-based information sources.


2020 ◽  
pp. 187-200
Author(s):  
Martin Gulliford ◽  
Edmund Jessop ◽  
Lucy Yardley

New digital technologies are having important impacts on the practice of public health and the organization and delivery of healthcare. Developments in information technology ensure that public health information is now available in more timely and accessible formats; data linkage has enriched public health information by making it possible to analyse multiple data sources simultaneously; and the use of smart devices and smart cards is generating even larger data resources that may be utilized for public health benefit. Computationally intensive approaches, derived from machine learning and artificial intelligence research, can be employed to develop algorithms that may efficiently automate healthcare-related tasks that previously relied on human analytical capabilities. Prediction modelling and risk stratification are being developed to promote precision public health. Increasing population coverage, with smartphones and other smart devices, makes it possible to deliver health-related interventions remotely, blurring the distinction between healthcare and public health. The availability of social media makes the exchange of knowledge and opinion more open, but this may also contribute to the propagation of false information that may be detrimental to public health. Public health needs to embrace and understand these developments in order to be at the forefront in harnessing these new technologies to improve population health and reduce inequalities. This must be accompanied by awareness of some of the ethical challenges of big-data analysis, the potential limitations of new analytical techniques, the relevance of behavioural science in understanding the human–machine interface, and the importance of critical evaluation in an era of rapid change.


Author(s):  
Senhu Wang ◽  
Lambert Zixin Li ◽  
Natasha van Antwerpen ◽  
Sutrisno Suparman ◽  
Mergy Gayatri ◽  
...  

Poor public health information is a hurdle in infectious disease control. The study aims to examine whether healthcare workers adhere to hand hygiene and mask-wearing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore their exposure to misinformation about the pandemic as a predictor. A cross-sectional survey was sent to 518 healthcare workers across Indonesia, the fourth largest nation in the world, in September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents reported whether they adhered to the guidelines of hand hygiene and mask wearing and whether they believed in four pieces of misinformation about the origin, severity, contagion, and prevention of COVID-19. The association between misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing was tested with logistic regression models controlling for demographic and health-related covariates. Approximately 25% of healthcare workers did not always adhere to hand hygiene guidelines and approximately 5% did not adhere to mask-wearing guidelines. There are significant associations between all four pieces of misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing. It is important to improve public health information about COVID-19, which may hold key to healthcare workers’ hand hygiene and mask wearing and to protect their health and patients’ safety.


2014 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. S86
Author(s):  
K. Wilbur ◽  
S. Berzou ◽  
B. Orabi ◽  
A. Abdulrahman ◽  
A. Sahal ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document