scholarly journals Social Media Outrage in Response to a School-Based Substance Use Survey: Qualitative Analysis

10.2196/15298 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. e15298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Ann Gassman ◽  
Tapati Dutta ◽  
Jon Agley ◽  
Wasantha Jayawardene ◽  
Mikyoung Jun
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
School Based ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Public Health Survey ◽  
Parental Autonomy ◽  
National Trends ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

Background School-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATOD) surveys are a common epidemiological means of understanding youth risk behaviors. They can be used to monitor national trends and provide data, in aggregate, to schools, communities, and states for the purposes of funding allocation, prevention programming, and other supportive infrastructure. However, such surveys sometimes are targeted by public criticism, and even legal action, often in response to a lack of perceived appropriateness. The ubiquity of social media has added the risk of potential online firestorms, or digital outrage events, to the hazards to be considered when administering such a survey. Little research has investigated the influence of online firestorms on public health survey administration, and no research has analyzed the content of such an occurrence. Analyzing this content will facilitate insights as to how practitioners can minimize the risk of generating outrage when conducting such surveys. Objective This study aimed to identify common themes within social media comments comprising an online firestorm that erupted in response to a school-based ATOD survey in order to inform risk-reduction strategies. Methods Data were collected by archiving all public comments made in response to a news study about a school-based ATOD survey that was featured on a common social networking platform. Using the general inductive approach and elements of thematic analysis, two researchers followed a multi-step protocol to clean, categorize, and consolidate data, generating codes for all 207 responses. Results In total, 133 comments were coded as oppositional to the survey and 74 were coded as supportive. Among the former, comments tended to reflect government-related concerns, conspiratorial or irrational thinking, issues of parental autonomy and privacy, fear of child protective services or police, issues with survey mechanisms, and reasoned disagreement. Among the latter, responses showed that posters perceived the ability to prevent abuse and neglect and support holistic health, surmised that opponents were hiding something, expressed reasoned support, or made factual statements about the survey. Consistent with research on moral outrage and digital firestorms, few comments (<10%) contained factual information about the survey; nearly half of the comments, both supportive and oppositional, were coded in categories that presupposed misinformation. Conclusions The components of even a small online firestorm targeting a school-based ATOD survey are nuanced and complex. It is likely impossible to be fully insulated against the risk of outrage in response to this type of public health work; however, careful articulation of procedures, anticipating specific concerns, and two-way community-based interaction may reduce risk.

scholarly journals Social Media Outrage in Response to a School-Based Substance Use Survey: Qualitative Analysis (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Ann Gassman ◽  
Tapati Dutta ◽  
Jon Agley ◽  
Wasantha Jayawardene ◽  
Mikyoung Jun
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
School Based ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Public Health Survey ◽  
Parental Autonomy ◽  
National Trends ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

BACKGROUND School-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATOD) surveys are a common epidemiological means of understanding youth risk behaviors. They can be used to monitor national trends and provide data, in aggregate, to schools, communities, and states for the purposes of funding allocation, prevention programming, and other supportive infrastructure. However, such surveys sometimes are targeted by public criticism, and even legal action, often in response to a lack of perceived appropriateness. The ubiquity of social media has added the risk of potential online firestorms, or digital outrage events, to the hazards to be considered when administering such a survey. Little research has investigated the influence of online firestorms on public health survey administration, and no research has analyzed the content of such an occurrence. Analyzing this content will facilitate insights as to how practitioners can minimize the risk of generating outrage when conducting such surveys. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to identify common themes within social media comments comprising an online firestorm that erupted in response to a school-based ATOD survey in order to inform risk-reduction strategies. METHODS Data were collected by archiving all public comments made in response to a news study about a school-based ATOD survey that was featured on a common social networking platform. Using the general inductive approach and elements of thematic analysis, two researchers followed a multi-step protocol to clean, categorize, and consolidate data, generating codes for all 207 responses. RESULTS In total, 133 comments were coded as oppositional to the survey and 74 were coded as supportive. Among the former, comments tended to reflect government-related concerns, conspiratorial or irrational thinking, issues of parental autonomy and privacy, fear of child protective services or police, issues with survey mechanisms, and reasoned disagreement. Among the latter, responses showed that posters perceived the ability to prevent abuse and neglect and support holistic health, surmised that opponents were hiding something, expressed reasoned support, or made factual statements about the survey. Consistent with research on moral outrage and digital firestorms, few comments (<10%) contained factual information about the survey; nearly half of the comments, both supportive and oppositional, were coded in categories that presupposed misinformation. CONCLUSIONS The components of even a small online firestorm targeting a school-based ATOD survey are nuanced and complex. It is likely impossible to be fully insulated against the risk of outrage in response to this type of public health work; however, careful articulation of procedures, anticipating specific concerns, and two-way community-based interaction may reduce risk.

scholarly journals Descriptive Epidemiology of Rescue-Related Fatal Drowning in Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6613
Author(s):  
Ali Işın ◽  
Adnan Turgut ◽  
Amy E. Peden
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Retrospective Study ◽  
Relative Risk ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Descriptive Epidemiology ◽  
Death Registry ◽  
Public Health Threat ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

Drowning is a public-health threat and a leading cause of injury-related death. In Turkey, drowning results in 900 fatalities annually, and the rate is rising. As data on rescue-related drowning are scarce, this retrospective study explores the epidemiology of fatal drowning among rescuers in Turkey. As there are no routinely collected death registry data on drowning in Turkey, data were sourced from media reports of incidents between 2015 and 2019. Rescuer fatalities were analysed by age, sex, activity prior to rescue, location, incident day of week and season, and place of death. Statistical analyses comprised X2 tests of significance (p < 0.05) and calculation of relative risk (95% confidence interval) using fatality rates. In total, 237 bystander rescuers drowned (90% male; 35% 15–24 years). In 33% of cases, the primary drowning victim (PDV) was successfully rescued, while in 46% of cases the rescue resulted in multiple drowning fatalities (mean = 2.29; range 1–5 rescuers). Rescues were more likely to be successful in saving the PDV if undertaken at the beach/sea (X2 = 29.147; p < 0.001), while swimming (X2 = 12.504; p = 0.001), or during summer (X2 = 8.223; p = 0.029). Risk of bystander rescue-related fatal drowning was twice as high on weekdays compared to on weekends (RR = 2.04; 95%CI: 1.56–2.67). While bystanders play an important role in reducing drowning, undertaking a rescue is not without risk and can lead to multiple drowning incidents. Training in rescue and resuscitation skills (especially the prioritization of non-contact rescues) coupled with increasing awareness of drowning risk, are risk-reduction strategies which should be explored in Turkey.

scholarly journals The Health and Social Needs of Patients Discharged From the Emergency Department With Suspected COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492098257
Author(s):  
Hazar Khidir ◽  
Michael DeLuca ◽  
Wendy L. Macias-Konstantopoulos ◽  
Margaret Samuels-Kalow ◽  
Rashmi Jasrasaria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Emergency Department ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

Health-related social needs (HRSNs), such as food or housing insecurity, are important drivers of disparities in outcomes during public health emergencies. We describe the development of a telehealth follow-up program in Boston, Massachusetts, for patients discharged from the emergency department after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing to identify patients with worsening clinical symptoms, to screen for unmet HRSNs, and to deliver self-isolation counseling and risk-reduction strategies for socially vulnerable people. We prioritized telephone calls to patients with public health insurance and patients without primary care physicians. In the first 43 days of operation, March 30–May 12, 2020, our intervention reached 509 patients, with 209 (41.1%) patients reporting an HRSN, most commonly related to food, housing, or utilities. Thirty-one (6.1%) patients required assessment by a clinician for clinical worsening. This public health intervention may be useful for other institutions developing programs to address the social and health needs of patients discharged with suspected COVID-19.

scholarly journals Strategies at points of entry to reduce importation risk of COVID-19 cases and reopen travel

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Borame L Dickens ◽  
Joel R Koo ◽  
Jue Tao Lim ◽  
Haoyang Sun ◽  
Hannah E Clapham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Testing Practices ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies ◽  
Importation Risk

Abstract Background With more countries exiting lockdown, public health safety requires screening measures at international travel entry points that can prevent the reintroduction or importation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2. Here, we estimate the number of cases captured, quarantining days averted and secondary cases expected to occur with screening interventions. Methods To estimate active case exportation risk from 153 countries with recorded coronavirus disease-2019 cases and deaths, we created a simple data-driven framework to calculate the number of infectious and upcoming infectious individuals out of 100 000 000 potential travellers from each country, and assessed six importation risk reduction strategies; Strategy 1 (S1) has no screening on entry, S2 tests all travellers and isolates test-positives where those who test negative at 7 days are permitted entry, S3 the equivalent but for a 14 day period, S4 quarantines all travellers for 7 days where all are subsequently permitted entry, S5 the equivalent for 14 days and S6 the testing of all travellers and prevention of entry for those who test positive. Results The average reduction in case importation across countries relative to S1 is 90.2% for S2, 91.7% for S3, 55.4% for S4, 91.2% for S5 and 77.2% for S6. An average of 79.6% of infected travellers are infectious upon arrival. For the top 100 exporting countries, an 88.2% average reduction in secondary cases is expected through S2 with the 7-day isolation of test-positives, increasing to 92.1% for S3 for 14-day isolation. A substantially smaller reduction of 30.0% is expected for 7-day all traveller quarantining, increasing to 84.3% for 14-day all traveller quarantining. Conclusions The testing and isolation of test-positives should be implemented provided good testing practices are in place. If testing is not feasible, quarantining for a minimum of 14 days is recommended with strict adherence measures in place.

scholarly journals Persistence of Listeria monocytogenes in food commodities: foodborne pathogenesis, virulence factors, and implications for public health

Food Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ranasinghe R.A.S.S. ◽  
Satharasinghe D.A. ◽  
Tang J.Y.H. ◽  
Y. Rukayadi ◽  
K.R. Radu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Listeria Monocytogenes ◽  
Severe Condition ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
External Stresses ◽  
Food Commodities ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies ◽  
Associated Surfaces

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous pathogen found commonly in vast environment conditions and most commonly found in fresh-cut salads, raw fruits raw vegetables, sausages, cured meat, shellfish, refrigerated ready to eat food, soft cheeses, raw and under pasteurized milk. L. monocytogenes is a member of genus Listeria, along with five other members, such as L. innocua, L. ivanovii, L. seeligeri, L. grayi and L. murrayi. However, L. monocytogenes is the widely known species found in human cases, although a few cases with L. ivanovii have also reported. The infection caused by L. monocytogenes is known as listeriosis, and most affected populations are neonates, pregnant women, immune-suppressed and older people. Listeriosis is a severe condition with a higher level of hospitalization (94%) and around 16% fatality. Listeria can tolerate wide ranges of temperature, pH values, ions including Chlorides and Nitrites, different Oxygen levels. Therefore, L. monocytogenes is widely identified and survived easily on harsh environmental conditions. The ability of biofilm formation makes Listeria even harder to eliminate through food processing and associated surfaces. Although outbreaks are not very common, several large outbreaks have been documented in the literature. The extensive incubation period of this pathogen makes it challenging to identify the cause in most of the outbreaks, and most of the Listeria associated cases found to be sporadic. L. monocytogenes can cause substantial economic and public health impacts due to its effect on humans. Once contaminated, Listeria is hard to eliminate due to widespread presence in the environment, intrinsic physiological resistance, ability to adapt to external stresses, and the ability to grow at a wide range of temperatures. The objective of this review was to understand foodborne Listeria infections in humans and animals, the occurrence of infections and outbreaks, the growth and survival of L. monocytogenes in food-related industries, and risk reduction strategies.

Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie auf die Maßnahmen zur Suchtprävention der Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA)

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 259-264
Author(s):  
Michaela Goecke
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Junge Erwachsene ◽  
Bundeszentrale Für Gesundheitliche Aufklärung

Zusammenfassung. Abstract: Hintergrund: Die Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA) ist als Fachbehörde unter anderem für die Umsetzung nationaler Programme zur Suchtprävention zuständig. Die jährlichen Arbeitsprogramme werden mit dem Bundesministerium für Gesundheit abgestimmt und sehen aktuell vor dem Hintergrund der Public-Health-Relevanz Schwerpunkte in der Prävention der legalen Substanzen Tabak und Alkohol vor. Vorrangige Zielgruppen sind Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene, da sich bei ihnen riskante Konsummuster entwickeln und festigen können. Die Präventionsprogramme der BZgA umfassen schulische Angebote, Webportale, Social Media und Printmedien wie Informationsbroschüren. Aktuelle Situation: Die Corona-Pandemie hat Einfluss genommen auf die Suchtprävention der BZgA. Zu nennen ist die thematische Verzahnung im Kontext von Corona und ein veränderter inhaltlicher Beratungsbedarf – telefonisch und online. Auch die durch die Corona-Pandemie bedingten Kontaktbeschränkungen während des „Lockdowns“ sowie die neuen Rahmenbedingungen für ein persönliches Miteinander haben die Suchtprävention verändert. Interaktive Präventionsangebote in Schulen wurden ebenso wie die Unterstützung von Mitmachaktionen in Sportvereinen oder die Durchführung von Peer-Programmen ausgesetzt. Dafür rückte die Nutzung digitaler Möglichkeiten sowohl bei der Umsetzung von suchtpräventiven Angeboten als auch in der Kooperation und Vernetzung mit den Ländern in einen neuen Fokus. Die Corona-Krise kann perspektivisch auch eine Chance für mehr Digitalisierung in der Suchtprävention werden.

The Role of Revascularisation in Patients Undergoing Non-cardiac Surgery

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Daniel S Menees ◽  
Eric R Bates ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cardiac Surgery ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Cardiovascular Complications ◽  
Weight Of Evidence ◽  
Beta Blockade ◽  
Cardiac Morbidity ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Artery Disease ◽  
Risk Reduction Strategies

Coronary artery disease (CAD) affects millions of US citizens. As the population ages, an increasing number of people with CAD are undergoing non-cardiac surgery and face significant peri-operative cardiac morbidity and mortality. Risk-prediction models can be used to help identify those patients at increased risk of peri-operative cardiovascular complications. Risk-reduction strategies utilising pharmacotherapy with beta blockade and statins have shown the most promise. Importantly, the benefit of prophylactic coronary revascularisation has not been demonstrated. The weight of evidence suggests reserving either percutaneous or surgical revascularisation in the pre-operative setting for those patients who would otherwise meet independent revascularisation criteria.

Exploring the Nexus between Online Alcohol Posters and Alcohol Drinking among Kenya’s Higher Vocational College students

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Malechwanzi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Alcoholic Beverage ◽  
Vocational College ◽  
Drinking Habits ◽  
Higher Vocational College ◽  
Unrestricted Access

Alcohol drinking among young people is a major global public health concern. The situation has been aggravated further by the advent of the internet and subsequent development of social media as a tool for online alcohol marketing. Measures that aim at reducing substance abuse is a stride towards “2030 Agenda” for sustainable development goal number 3 set by the United Nation General Assembly. In this goal, attention is not only drawn to health and wellbeing but also to prevention and treatment of substance abuse. This descriptive study sought to find out the prevalence of alcohol advertisements on social media and its possible influence on alcohol drinking among Kenya’s higher vocational college students. Based on a field survey conducted in Nairobi (n=209), this study established that there was heavy presence of alcohol advertisements on social media scene in Kenya. Although statistically, there was huge gender disparity, the final results showed that there was significant association between alcohol ads on social media and college student’s possible alcohol drinking habits. This study concludes that there was heavy presence of alcohol ads on social media, and the likelihood of youth having unrestricted access to the alcoholic beverage products. This could have a far-reaching implication on their alcohol drinking habits. Therefore, the study recommends the stakeholders in public health promotions to formulate policies aimed at mitigating against the challenges posed by unrestricted access to online alcohol ads by the youth in order to prevent them from being lured into early alcohol drinking by the alcoholic beverage makers.　 Keywords: Alcohol abuse; Influence; Online ads; Youth; Kenya

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