Using Natural Language Processing to Explore "Dry January" Posts on Twitter: Longitudinal Infodemiology Study

Characteristics and engagement among English-language online forums for addiction recovery available in the US

In developing public resources for the Networks Enhancing Addiction Recovery - Forum Activity Roadmap (NEAR-FAR), we completed a systematic observational study of English-language online forums related to recovery from alcohol or other drug addiction in late 2021. Among 207 identified forums, the majority were classified as "general addiction" or alcohol-focused, though classifications related to other substances were common on websites hosting multiple forums. Commonly used social media platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, or Quora offered easily accessible venues for individuals seeking online support related to a variety of substances. Forums were related to established recovery programs such as 12-step and SMART Recovery as well as other nonprofit and for-profit recovery programs, and to community forums without formal recovery programming. Among 148 forums with any observed user activity, the median time between unique user engagements was 27 days (inter-quartile range: 2-74). Among 98 forums with past-month posting activity, we found a median of <10 posts per week (inter-quartile range: 1-78). This study compares three metrics of observed forum activity (posts per week, responses per post, time between unique user engagements) and operationalizes forum characteristics that may potentiate opportunities for enhanced engagement and social support in addiction recovery.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of patients with chronic pharyngitis toward laryngopharyngeal reflux in Suzhou, China

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of patients with chronic pharyngitis in Suzhou, China toward laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR).

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted in patients with chronic pharyngitis in Suzhou, China at the otolaryngology outpatient clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between November, 2022, and May, 2023. Data was collected through a self-designed online questionnaire encompassing the sociodemographic characteristics and three dimensions of KAP. The questionnaire was administered using SoJump, and data were exported from this platform. Subsequently, statistical analysis, including Structural Equation Modeling, was performed using SPSS 22 software to evaluate the KAP scores.

RESULTS

A total of 487 valid questionnaires were collected, with 275 (56.35%) female patients. The mean score of KAP were 4.76 ± 2.93 (possible range: 0-11), 33.10 ± 4.46 (possible range: 8-40), 31.29 ± 6.04 (possible range: 8-40), respectively. Pearson's correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations between knowledge and attitude dimensions (r = 0.413, P < 0.001), knowledge and practice dimensions (r = 0.355, P < 0.001), and attitude and practice dimensions (r = 0.481, P < 0.001). Structural equation modeling revealed that education exhibited positive effect on knowledge (β = 0.476, P < 0.001) and attitude (β = 0.600, P < 0.001), and having family history of chronic pharyngitis showed positive effect on knowledge (β = 0.580, P = 0.047), experienced with reflux symptoms showed positive effect on knowledge (β = 0.838, P = 0.001) and attitude (β = 0.631, P = 0.085). Moreover, knowledge showed positive effect on attitude (β = 0.555, P < 0.001) and practice (β = 0.351, P < 0.001). Attitude, in turn, showed positive effect on practice (β = 0.511, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Patients with chronic pharyngitis had inadequate knowledge, positive attitudes and suboptimal practices toward LPR. Education, family history of chronic pharyngitis, experienced with reflux symptoms might have effect on their KAP.

Geospatial vaccine misinformation risk on social media: Online insights from an English/Spanish natural language processing (NLP) analysis of vaccine-related tweets

BACKGROUND

Misinformation is known to affect norms, attitudes, and intentions to engage with healthy behaviors. Evidence strongly supports that Spanish speakers may be particularly affected by misinformation and its outcomes, yet current insights into the scope and scale of misinformation is primarily ethnocentric, with greater emphasis on English-language design.

OBJECTIVE

This study applies Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze a corpus of English/Spanish tweets about vaccines, broadly defined, for misinformation indicators.

METHODS

We analyzed NEnglish = 247,140 and NSpanish = 104,445 tweets using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic models with Coherence score calculation (model fit) with a Mallet adjustment (topic optimization). We used informal coding to name computer-identified topics and compare misinformation scope and scale between languages.

RESULTS

The LDA analysis yielded a 12-topic solution for English and a 14-topic solution for Spanish. Both corpora contained overlapping misinformation, including uncertainty of research guiding policy recommendations or standing in support of antivax movements. However, the Spanish data were positioned in a global context, where misinformation was directed at government equity and disparate vaccine distribution.

CONCLUSION

Our findings support that misinformation is a global issue. However, misinformation may vary depending on culture and language. As such, tailored strategies to combat misinformation in digital planes are strongly encouraged.

Characterizing Twitter chatter about temporary alcohol abstinence during "Dry January"

With roots as a public health campaign in the United Kingdom, "Dry January" is a temporary alcohol abstinence initiative encouraging participants to abstain from alcohol use during the month of January. Dry January has become a cultural phenomenon, gaining increasing news media attention and social media engagement. Given the utility of capturing naturalistic discussions around health topics on social media, we examined Twitter chatter about Dry January and associated temporary abstinence experiences. Public tweets were collected containing the search terms "dry january" or "dryjanuary" posted between 15 December and 15 February across 3 years (2020-2). A random subsample stratified by year (n = 3145) was pulled for manual content analysis by trained coders. Final codebook accounted for user sentiment toward Dry January, user account type, and themes related to Dry January participation. Engagement metadata (e.g. likes) were also collected. Though user sentiment was mixed, most tweets expressed positive or neutral sentiment toward Dry January (74.7%). Common themes included encouragement and support for Dry January participation (14.1%), experimentation with and promotion of nonalcoholic drinks (14.0%), and benefits derived from Dry January participation (10.4%). While there is promise in the movement to promote positive alcohol-related behavior change, increased efforts to deliver the campaign within a public health context are needed. Health communication campaigns designed to inform participants about evidence-based treatment and recovery support services proven to help people quit or cut down on their drinking are likely to maximize benefits.