Do MRI Patients Tweet? Thematic Analysis of Patient Tweets About Their MRI Experience

'Scanxiety': Content analysis of pre-MRI patient experience on Instagram

INTRODUCTION

Distress and anxiety are commonly reported during the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) experience with prior studies suggesting the pre-MRI period is a time of heightened distress. There is a paucity of literature exploring preprocedural distress and anxiety, in particular qualitative research analysing patient experience. Instagram is rapidly becoming an important social media platform though which to conduct health research. A gradually increasing number of studies have examined social media to gain insight into patient experience within medical radiation science (MRS). This study is considered as the first to explore patient experience of MRI using Instagram as a data source.

METHODS

This study investigated the patient experience during the pre-MRI period by performing a content analysis on open-source Instagram posts. Ethical approval for the study was sought and approved by the Charles Sturt University, Human Research Ethics Committee.

RESULTS

Six themes emerged from the extracted data; Journey to the MRI, Waiting, Anticipating the MRI procedure, Preparing for the MRI procedure, Negative interaction, and Fear of the results.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study provide novel self-reported and unsolicited insight into the diverse, multifactorial, and often concomitant nature of preprocedural MRI anxiety and distress.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

This study adds to a growing body of literature advocating for a compassionate, holistic, and person-centered approach when caring for patients in MRI that also considers their emotional and psychological wellbeing.

To have and to hold: An exploratory qualitative study exploring why research participants with treatment-resistant depression undergoing transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment requested copies of their research brain MRI scans

PURPOSE

There has been little research providing an in-depth exploration of the reasons behind research participants, particularly in mental health settings, requesting copies of their research data, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. BRIGhTMIND is a large double blind randomised controlled trial using functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging to create personalised targets for transcranial magnetic stimulation delivery, and a number of trial participants requested copies of these scans.

METHODS

Seven participants involved in the BRIGhTMIND trial completed semi-structured interviews exploring their reasons behind their request for copies of their MRI scans. The qualitative data was co-analysed between researchers and patient and public involvement and engagement representatives using inductive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The interviews produced consistent themes concerning curiosity to visualise their MRI scans, and the hope that their participation would result in a better understanding of the nature and future treatment of depression. Concerns around the rights to access their own personal health data emerged as a clear theme as did their own ability to interpret any radiological information.

DISCUSSION

This study provides insight into the reasons why research participants with depression would like to retain copies of their MRI scans and the perceived role that such techniques may have for improving research and neuromodulation treatments in depression. Such first-hand experiential accounts emphasises the importance of listening to participants perspectives and lived experience, in order to improve research and health outcomes. Future research could aim to provide greater verbal and written information for participants, including details about the accessibility to their MRI scans, the difference between research and clinical MRI scans, and educational materials to help with the interpretation of MRI images.

Review of claustrophobia incidence in MRI: A service evaluation of current rates across a multi-centre service

INTRODUCTION

Magnetic Resonance Imaging remains an anxious experience for many, often exhibiting as fear of enclosed spaces. A useful metric to assess its prevalence and impact in practice is premature termination due to claustrophobia. Incidence varies and depends on many factors such as the physical nature of the imaging equipment and examination being undertaken, as well as the patient themselves.

METHODS

Scan appointment data from between April 2019-March 2021 was extracted and reviewed. Analysis included the type of scanner used, patient age, sex, examination area, funding source, attendance and completion status. Binomial logistic regression was performed to look for any relevant predictors of failure to scan due to claustrophobia.

RESULTS

Overall incidence of incomplete examinations due to claustrophobia was 0.76%. Whilst the majority of scans were performed on conventional systems, those undergoing Open scans were over three times more likely to fail a scan due to claustrophobia, whilst those undergoing UpRight scanning were half as likely. Likelihood of claustrophobia increases with females, those between 45-64years of age, funded by the NHS and entering the scanner head first or having a head scan.

CONCLUSION

Incidence of incomplete scanning is below 1% but with the potential for further reduction with implementation and use of improved scanner design and technology. Understanding the impact of other variables is also useful to raise awareness of those at greater risk of claustrophobia. However, there are wider influences beyond data alone to consider and account for.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Whilst occurrence of claustrophobia is low, there remains a cost impact, as well as an importance in understanding the patient experience. Drawing on operational data can help provide a limited, generalised view to support service improvement.

Investigating Individuals’ Perceptions Regarding the Context Around the Low Back Pain Experience: Topic Modeling Analysis of Twitter Data

Background

Low back pain (LBP) remains the leading cause of disability worldwide. A better understanding of the beliefs regarding LBP and impact of LBP on the individual is important in order to improve outcomes. Although personal experiences of LBP have traditionally been explored through qualitative studies, social media allows access to data from a large, heterogonous, and geographically distributed population, which is not possible using traditional qualitative or quantitative methods. As data on social media sites are collected in an unsolicited manner, individuals are more likely to express their views and emotions freely and in an unconstrained manner as compared to traditional data collection methods. Thus, content analysis of social media provides a novel approach to understanding how problems such as LBP are perceived by those who experience it and its impact.

Objective

The objective of this study was to identify contextual variables of the LBP experience from a first-person perspective to provide insights into individuals’ beliefs and perceptions.

Methods

We analyzed 896,867 cleaned tweets about LBP between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2018. We tested and compared latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), Dirichlet multinomial mixture (DMM), GPU-DMM, biterm topic model, and nonnegative matrix factorization for identifying topics associated with tweets. A coherence score was determined to identify the best model. Two domain experts independently performed qualitative content analysis of the topics with the strongest coherence score and grouped them into contextual categories. The experts met and reconciled any differences and developed the final labels.

Results

LDA outperformed all other algorithms, resulting in the highest coherence score. The best model was LDA with 60 topics, with a coherence score of 0.562. The 60 topics were grouped into 19 contextual categories. “Emotion and beliefs” had the largest proportion of total tweets (157,563/896,867, 17.6%), followed by “physical activity” (124,251/896,867, 13.85%) and “daily life” (80,730/896,867, 9%), while “food and drink,” “weather,” and “not being understood” had the smallest proportions (11,551/896,867, 1.29%; 10,109/896,867, 1.13%; and 9180/896,867, 1.02%, respectively). Of the 11 topics within “emotion and beliefs,” 113,562/157,563 (72%) had negative sentiment.

Conclusions

The content analysis of tweets in the area of LBP identified common themes that are consistent with findings from conventional qualitative studies but provide a more granular view of individuals’ perspectives related to LBP. This understanding has the potential to assist with developing more effective and personalized models of care to improve outcomes in those with LBP.

Why isn't there an evidence-based radiography? Reflections and a call to action

In an ideal world all healthcare professionals (including radiographers and medical radiation professionals) would deliver care based on the best available evidence, ensuring best outcomes and optimal use of resources. Unfortunately, we know this is often not the case. This article calls for structural changes to enable the development of an evidence-based radiography.

Patients' experiences of radiotherapy: Insights from Twitter

INTRODUCTION

Understanding how patients experience radiotherapy is a key element in improving care. People with cancer are increasingly using social media to share information and discuss healthcare matters. Twitter may provide a rich source of data on how people experience radiotherapy. The aims of this research were to better understand the role of social media in this context and establish what can be learnt about the experience of undergoing radiotherapy from a novel digital data source.

METHODS

A qualitative content analysis was conducted to describe how and why Twitter is being used by patients in relation to radiotherapy. Twitter was queried with "radiotherapy" and a purposive subsample of tweets, authored primarily by patients was collected over one randomly generated composite month in 2016. Thematic analysis was performed to interpret the data.

RESULTS

442 unique tweets authored by patients and their families were sampled and six themes were developed. Three core themes represented the radiotherapy pathway; pre- during- and post-treatment. Underlying themes were emotional and informational support, impact on loved ones and giving thanks.

CONCLUSION

Patients and their loved ones use Twitter to share their experience of radiotherapy. They describe the physical and psychological impact of undergoing treatment and seek informational and emotional support through social media. There is opportunity for greater engagement from radiotherapy professionals and organisations to improve informational support for patients online.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Increased engagement between radiotherapy professionals and patient communities on Twitter has the potential to build patient-practitioner trust, promote self-management and raise the social profile of radiotherapy and its professions.

What Do Patients Tweet About Their Mammography Experience?

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate themes related to patients' experience in undergoing mammography, as expressed on Twitter.

METHODS

A total of 464 tweets from July to December 2015 containing the hashtag #mammogram and relating to a patient's experience in undergoing mammography were reviewed.

RESULTS

Of the tweets, 45.5% occurred before the mammogram compared to 49.6% that occurred afterward (remainder of tweets indeterminate). However, in patients undergoing their first mammogram, 32.8% occurred before the examination, whereas in those undergoing follow-up mammogram, 53.0% occurred before the examination. Identified themes included breast compression (24.4%), advising other patients to undergo screening (23.9%), recognition of the health importance of the examination (18.8%), the act of waiting (10.1%), relief regarding results (9.7%), reflection that the examination was not that bad (9.1%), generalized apprehension regarding the examination (8.2%), interactions with staff (8.0%), the gown (5.0%), examination costs or access (3.4%), offering or reaching out for online support from other patients (3.2%), perception of screening as a sign of aging (2.4%), and the waiting room or waiting room amenities (1.3%). Of the tweets, 31.9% contained humor, of which 56.1% related to compression. Themes that were more common in patients undergoing their first, rather than follow-up, mammogram included breast compression (16.4% vs 9.1%, respectively) and that the test was not that bad (26.2% vs 7.6%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Online social media provides a platform for women to share their experiences and reactions in undergoing mammography, including humor, positive reflections, and encouragement of others to undergo the examination. Social media thus warrants further evaluation as a potential tool to help foster greater adherence to screening guidelines.