Health Goal Attainment of Patients With Chronic Diseases in Web-Based Patient Communities: Content and Survival Analysis

Use of Social Media Data Mining to Examine Needs, Concerns, and Experiences of People With Traumatic Brain Injury

PURPOSE

Given the limited availability of topic-specific resources, many people turn to anonymous social media platforms such as Reddit to seek information and connect to others with similar experiences and needs. Mining of such data can therefore identify unmet needs within the community and allow speech-language pathologists to incorporate clients' real-life insights into clinical practices.

METHOD

A mixed-method analysis was performed on 3,648 traumatic brain injury (TBI) subreddit posts created between 2013 and 2021. Sentiment analysis was used to determine the sentiment expressed in each post; topic modeling and qualitative content analysis were used to uncover the main topics discussed across posts. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on injury severity, chronicity, and whether the post was authored by a person with TBI or a close other.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between the number of posts with positive sentiment and the number of posts with negative sentiment. Comparisons between subgroups showed significantly higher positive sentiment in posts by or about people with moderate-to-severe TBI (compared to mild TBI) and who were more than 1 month postinjury (compared to less than 1 month). Posts by close others had significantly higher positive sentiment than posts by people with TBI. Topic modeling identified three meta-themes: Recovery, Symptoms, and Medical Care. Qualitative content analysis further revealed that returning to productivity and life as well as sharing recovery tips were the primary focus under the Recovery theme. Symptom-related posts often discussed symptom management and validation of experiences. The Medical Care theme encompassed concerns regarding diagnosis, medication, and treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Concerns and needs shift over time following TBI, and they extend beyond health and functioning to participation in meaningful daily activities. The findings can inform the development of tailored educational resources and rehabilitative approaches, facilitating recovery and community building for individuals with TBI.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24881340.

Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review

Background

Social media has been widely used for health-related purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous reviews have summarized social media uses for a specific health purpose such as health interventions, health campaigns, medical education, and disease outbreak surveillance. The most recent comprehensive review of social media uses for health purposes, however, was conducted in 2013. A systematic review that covers various health purposes is needed to reveal the new usages and research gaps that emerge in recent years.

Objective

This study aimed to provide a systematic review of social media uses for health purposes that have been identified in previous studies.

Methods

The researchers searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2006 and 2020 in 12 databases covering medicine, public health, and social science. After coding the articles in terms of publication year, journal area, country, method, social media platform, and social media use for health purposes, the researchers provided a review of social media use for health purposes identified in these articles.

Results

This study summarized 10 social media uses for various health purposes by health institutions, health researchers and practitioners, and the public.

Conclusions

Social media can be used for various health purposes. Several new usages have emerged since 2013 including advancing health research and practice, social mobilization, and facilitating offline health-related services and events. Research gaps exist regarding advancing strategic use of social media based on audience segmentation, evaluating the impact of social media in health interventions, understanding the impact of health identity development, and addressing privacy concerns.

Enhancing supply chain sensing capability through social media: an environmental scanning perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between social media and sensing capability for supply chain management (SCM) from an environmental scanning perspective. The authors consider upstream supply and downstream customer markets as two aspects of social media-enabled environmental scanning (SMES). The moderating effects of three uncertainties are explored.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 178 supply chain professionals through a survey. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to analyze the data.

Findings

SMES in both supply and customer markets enhance sensing capability. Interestingly, the results reveal an accelerating effect on sensing by the incremental effort of SMES-supply. However, that of SMES-customer leads to a decelerating outcome for sensing. Also, uncertainties, especially the demand- and technology-related, play a series of interacting effects according to SMES levels.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to the literature of operations and supply chains regarding social media strategies and dynamic capabilities. It opens the black box of environmental scanning behavior on social media and adds new knowledge on the dynamic influence of such behavior toward organizational sensing capability for SCM. In addition, further understanding on supply chain uncertainty as a moderator is also strengthened through this research.

Originality/value

This research is the first to empirically uncover the effect of social media on sensing capability for SCM through the lens of environmental scanning. The results support the employment of social networking for improving supply and demand sensing.