Social media has been extensively used for the communication of health-related information and consecutively for the potential spread of medical misinformation. Conventional systematic reviews have ...been published on this topic to identify original articles and to summarize their methodological approaches and themes. A bibliometric study could complement their findings, for instance, by evaluating the geographical distribution of the publications and determining if they were well cited and disseminated in high-impact journals.
The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the current literature to discover the prevalent trends and topics related to medical misinformation on social media.
The Web of Science Core Collection electronic database was accessed to identify relevant papers with the following search string: ALL=(misinformati* OR "wrong informati*" OR disinformati* OR "misleading informati*" OR "fake news*") AND ALL=(medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR health* OR pharma* OR drug* OR therap*) AND ALL=("social media*" OR Facebook* OR Twitter* OR Instagram* OR YouTube* OR Weibo* OR Whatsapp* OR Reddit* OR TikTok* OR WeChat*). Full records were exported to a bibliometric software, VOSviewer, to link bibliographic information with citation data. Term and keyword maps were created to illustrate recurring terms and keywords.
Based on an analysis of 529 papers on medical and health-related misinformation on social media, we found that the most popularly investigated social media platforms were Twitter (n=90), YouTube (n=67), and Facebook (n=57). Articles targeting these 3 platforms had higher citations per paper (>13.7) than articles covering other social media platforms (Instagram, Weibo, WhatsApp, Reddit, and WeChat; citations per paper <8.7). Moreover, social media platform-specific papers accounted for 44.1% (233/529) of all identified publications. Investigations on these platforms had different foci. Twitter-based research explored cyberchondria and hypochondriasis, YouTube-based research explored tobacco smoking, and Facebook-based research studied vaccine hesitancy related to autism. COVID-19 was a common topic investigated across all platforms. Overall, the United States contributed to half of all identified papers, and 80% of the top 10 most productive institutions were based in this country. The identified papers were mostly published in journals of the categories public environmental and occupational health, communication, health care sciences services, medical informatics, and medicine general internal, with the top journal being the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
There is a significant platform-specific topic preference for social media investigations on medical misinformation. With a large population of internet users from China, it may be reasonably expected that Weibo, WeChat, and TikTok (and its Chinese version Douyin) would be more investigated in future studies. Currently, these platforms present research gaps that leave their usage and information dissemination warranting further evaluation. Future studies should also include social platforms targeting non-English users to provide a wider global perspective.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Digital technology uses in cardiology have become a popular research focus in recent years. However, there has been no published bibliometric report that analyzed the corresponding academic ...literature in order to derive key publishing trends and characteristics of this scientific area.
We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the academic literature on digital technology uses in cardiology, and to unveil popular research topics, key authors, institutions, countries, and journals. We further captured the cardiovascular conditions and diagnostic tools most commonly investigated within this field.
The Web of Science electronic database was queried to identify relevant papers on digital technology uses in cardiology. Publication and citation data were acquired directly from the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer, a dedicated bibliometric software package, and related to the semantic content of titles, abstracts, and keywords. A term map was constructed for findings visualization.
The analysis was based on data from 12,529 papers. Of the top 5 most productive institutions, 4 were based in the United States. The United States was the most productive country (4224/12,529, 33.7%), followed by United Kingdom (1136/12,529, 9.1%), Germany (1067/12,529, 8.5%), China (682/12,529, 5.4%), and Italy (622/12,529, 5.0%). Cardiovascular diseases that had been frequently investigated included hypertension (152/12,529, 1.2%), atrial fibrillation (122/12,529, 1.0%), atherosclerosis (116/12,529, 0.9%), heart failure (106/12,529, 0.8%), and arterial stiffness (80/12,529, 0.6%). Recurring modalities were electrocardiography (170/12,529, 1.4%), angiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), echocardiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), digital subtraction angiography (111/12,529, 0.9%), and photoplethysmography (80/12,529, 0.6%). For a literature subset on smartphone apps and wearable devices, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (20/632, 3.2%) and other JMIR portfolio journals (51/632, 8.0%) were the major publishing venues.
Digital technology uses in cardiology target physicians, patients, and the general public. Their functions range from assisting diagnosis, recording cardiovascular parameters, and patient education, to teaching laypersons about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This field already has had a great impact in health care, and we anticipate continued growth.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The concept of social exclusion has recently gained more attention in the context of online social interactions. However, there is only little data regarding the impact of virtual social exclusion on ...subsequent real-life social behaviors. Thus, this study set out to examine a virtual version of the common social exclusion scenario, the Cyberball-Paradigm (Williams & Jarvis, 2006), and test for behavioral consequences in a sample of 45 students. Both the virtual characters' agency and the experience of social presence were controlled for. Findings indicate that ostracized individuals show less prosocial behavior in a helping task and keep more seating distance to a confederate than included participants. Also, virtual social exclusion constitutes a significant threat to fundamental human needs like social control, self-esteem and belonging and causes an increase in uncertainty, sadness and anger as well as a decrease in happiness. Avatars and agents seemed to equally endanger human needs and lead to the same seating distance. However, avatar excluded persons also had higher levels of sadness and were less helpful than avatar included persons, who in turn were more confident. Thus, while the Media Equation Concept (Nass & Moon, 2000) holds true for the immediate reaction to social exclusion (i.e., avatars and agents equally threaten fundamental needs), the delayed emotional and behavioral reactions differ for avatars and agents, possibly because they are preceded by cognitive evaluation (c.f.,Temporal Need-Threat Model; Williams, 2009). Implications of these findings for everyday online social interactions (i.e., in MMORPGs) are discussed.
•Virtual social exclusion leads to increased anger, sadness and uncertainty.•Virtual social exclusion constitutes a significant threat to basic human needs.•Participants excluded by avatars showed less real-life prosocial behavior.•Excluded participants kept a larger seating distance to a confederate.•There was no difference in social presence between avatars and agents.
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization's Emergency Committee declared the rapid, worldwide spread of COVID-19 a global health emergency. Since then, tireless efforts have been made to ...mitigate the spread of the disease and its impact, and these efforts have mostly relied on nonpharmaceutical interventions. By December 2020, the safety and efficacy of the first COVID-19 vaccines were demonstrated. The large social media platform Twitter has been used by medical researchers for the analysis of important public health topics, such as the public's perception on antibiotic use and misuse and human papillomavirus vaccination. The analysis of Twitter-generated data can be further facilitated by using Twitter's built-in, anonymous polling tool to gain insight into public health issues and obtain rapid feedback on an international scale. During the fast-paced course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Twitter polling system has provided a viable method for gaining rapid, large-scale, international public health insights on highly relevant and timely SARS-CoV-2-related topics.
The purpose of this study was to understand the public's perception on the safety and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in real time by using Twitter polls.
We developed 2 Twitter polls to explore the public's views on available COVID-19 vaccines. The surveys were pinned to the Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform Twitter timeline for 1 week in mid-February 2021, and Twitter users and influencers were asked to participate in and retweet the polls to reach the largest possible audience.
The adequacy of COVID-19 vaccine safety (ie, the safety of currently available vaccines; poll 1) was agreed upon by 1579 out of 3439 (45.9%) Twitter users. In contrast, almost as many Twitter users (1434/3439, 41.7%) were unsure about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Only 5.2% (179/3439) of Twitter users rated the available COVID-19 vaccines as generally unsafe. Poll 2, which addressed the question of whether users would undergo vaccination, was answered affirmatively by 82.8% (2862/3457) of Twitter users, and only 8% (277/3457) categorically rejected vaccination at the time of polling.
In contrast to the perceived high level of uncertainty about the safety of the available COVID-19 vaccines, we observed an elevated willingness to undergo vaccination among our study sample. Since people's perceptions and views are strongly influenced by social media, the snapshots provided by these media platforms represent a static image of a moving target. Thus, the results of this study need to be followed up by long-term surveys to maintain their validity. This is especially relevant due to the circumstances of the fast-paced pandemic and the need to not miss sudden rises in the incidence of vaccine hesitancy, which may have detrimental effects on the pandemic's course.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary
Professional interpretation and translation are key issues in the improvement of public health and patient safety in an area of increased migration and multicultural healthcare system needs. ...Patient safety requires clear and reliable communication to avoid errors in diagnosis, treatment, and neglect of informed consent. Due to the range of languages to be covered, telephone and video interpretation (VI) can be expected to face up to the demands for trained interpreters available on short notice and in more remote healthcare sites.
In a pilot project, we implemented a new up to date model video interpretation unit and used a mixed methods approach integrating quantitative and qualitative data in assessing barriers encountered prior to the use of the pilot system and satisfaction with the use of video interpretation in a number of clinical settings, including inpatient and outpatient units, in Austria. Of all respondents (
n
= 144) 71% reported frequently encountering language barriers, only 37% reported the use of professional interpreters, 81% reported using siblings, parents or other non-professional interpreters, while a considerable percentage (66%) reported using gestures or drawings to communicate, resulting in very low overall satisfaction rate (only 12%) with the prior situation.
In the qualitative study the users observed rapid availability, data protection compliance, ability to see the interpreter despite physical distance, absence of potential external influence resulting from personal relationships, user-friendly nature of the technique, legal certainty, absence of the requirement for personal presence, and cost savings as key benefits in the use of the new technology. Of the users of the system 88% (
n
= 58) rated it as very good (72%) or good (16%).
Abstract Background Many studies have found an association between Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children, adolescents and adults. We intended ...to determine whether substance abuse and SUDs are associated with former and current ADHD symptomatology in a non-clinical sample of 17 and 18 year old males. Method A representative sample of 3280 young men (6.8% of all males born in Austria in the respective year) was investigated during the examination for military service. We collected data on past (WURS) and current (ADHD symptom checklist) ADHD symptomatology, substance abuse, parental substance use and abuse and motives for substance use. Results Measured by WURS, 10.1% had scored positive for past ADHD symptoms. 2.7% of all subjects stated that they have been treated for ADHD and 1.5% reported that they had at one point received pharmacological treatment for the condition. Abuse of alcohol, nicotine and illicit substances was significantly (p < .01) more frequent in subjects with ADHD syndrome. Perceived parental alcohol abuse increased the risk for ADHD in the offspring. Motives for substance use differed greatly between groups. Limitations The sample consists of men only. Subjects had to be fit enough to be enlisted military service, generating a possible bias towards healthier subjects. The cross-sectional design does not allow conclusions about the temporal relationships between ADHD symptoms and substance abuse. Conclusion Identification of vulnerability factors for comorbid ADHD and SUD in adolescence should be intensified. Preventive strategies ought to be established.
Background and objective
To improve the currently low conviction rate in cases of child abuse a forensic examination center for children and adolescents (FOKUS) was established in Vienna, Austria. ...Besides a state of the art treatment combined with forensic documentation, one of FOKUS’ key goals is to identify potential areas for improvements within the process legal proceedings in cases of child abuse through constant scientific monitoring. The accompanying study at hand includes all patients referred to FOKUS within a two year timeframe (
n
= 233), monitoring their progression from first contact with the medical professionals from FOKUS to the end of criminal proceedings. A detailed analysis of case files was performed in those cases that were reported to the legal authorities by the clinicians of FOKUS (
n
= 87). Aim of the study is to investigate which factors contribute to the initiation of legal proceedings and a successful conviction.
Results
Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that main proceedings were opened more often in cases where the offender was an adult (
p
< 0.001) or admitted his guilt (
p
< 0.001) and if digital traces were available (
p
= 0.001) or trial support (
p
= 0.024) present. Furthermore, the combined occurrence of medical documentation and victim disclosure was related to a higher probability of opening main trials.
Conclusion
These findings underline how challenging the successful persecution of an offender in cases of child abuse is.
Online information on COVID-19 vaccination may influence people's perception and willingness to be vaccinated. Official websites of vaccination programs have not been systematically assessed before.
...This study aims to assess and compare the readability and content quality of web-based information on COVID-19 vaccination posted on official/governmental websites. Furthermore, the relationship between evaluated website parameters and country vaccination rates were calculated.
By referring to an open data set hosted at Our World in Data, the 58 countries/regions with the highest total vaccination count as of July 8, 2021, were identified. Together with the websites from the World Health Organization and European Union, a total of 60 vaccination campaign websites were targeted. The "frequently asked questions" or "questions and answers" section of the websites were evaluated in terms of readability (Flesch Reading Ease score and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level), quality (Health On the Net Foundation code HONcode certification and Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool), and content stating vaccination duration of protection and potential side effects.
In terms of readability, the Flesch Reading Ease score of the vaccination frequently asked questions websites ranged between 11.2 and 69.5, with a mean of 40.9 (SD 13.2). Meanwhile, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level ranged between 6.5 and 17.6, with a mean of 12.1 (SD 2.8). In terms of quality, only 2 websites were HONcode certified, and the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool score of the websites ranged between 7 and 20, with a mean of 15.3 (SD 3.1). Half of the websites (25/50) did not present a publication date or date of the last update. Regarding the duration of protection offered by the vaccines, 46% (23/50) of the websites stated that they do not know, and another 40% (20/50) did not address it. Five side effects of the vaccinations were most frequently mentioned, namely, fever/chill (41/50, 82%), various injection site discomfort events (eg, swelling, redness, or pain; 39/50, 78%), headache (36/50, 72%), fatigue (33/50, 66%), and muscle/joint pain (31/50, 62%).
In general, the content quality of most of the evaluated websites was good, but HONcode certification should be considered, content should be written in a more readable manner, and a publication date or date of the last update should be presented.
Background:
Twitter, representing a big social media network, is broadly used for the communication of health-related information. In this work, we aimed to identify and analyze the scientific ...literature on Twitter use in context of health by utilizing a bibliometric approach, in order to obtain quantitative information on dominant research topics, trending themes, key publications, scientific institutions, and prolific researchers who contributed to this scientific area.
Methods:
Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on Twitter and health. Basic bibliographic data was obtained utilizing the “Analyze” function of the database. Full records and cited references were exported to VOSviewer, a dedicated bibliometric software, for further analysis. A term map and a keyword map were synthesized to visualize recurring words within titles, abstracts and keywords.
Results:
The analysis was based on the data from 2,582 papers. The first papers were published in 2009, and the publication count increased rapidly since 2015. Original articles and reviews were published in a ratio of 10.6:1. The Journal of Medical Internet Research was the top journal, and the United States had contributions to over half (52%) of these publications, being the home-country of eight of the top ten most productive institutions. Keyword analysis identified six topically defined clusters, with professional education in healthcare being the top theme cluster (consisting of 66 keywords). The identified papers often investigated Twitter together with other social media, such as YouTube and Facebook.
Conclusions:
A great diversity of themes was found in the identified papers, including: professional education in healthcare, big data and sentiment analysis, social marketing and substance use, physical and emotional well-being of young adults, and public health and health communication. Our quantitative analysis outlines Twitter as both, an increasingly popular data source, and a highly versatile tool for health-related research.
Objectives Telemedical applications are solutions to challenges in the healthcare system. However, it is unclear what intensive care unit healthcare professionals expect from such solutions. This ...study investigated the expectations and concerns of nurses and physicians when implementing telemedicine tools in intensive care units (tele-ICU). Methods The study was conducted in intensive care units in 2020 during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It used a mixed-methods approach targeted at physicians and nurses and involved 14 qualitative interviews and 63 quantitative questionnaires. Results The qualitative and quantitative data showed that both nurses and physicians were willing to use tele-ICU. Nurses recognised the advantages of real-time access to expertise offered by tele-ICU, but feared this would reduce physicians’ on-site patient time. Physicians, in turn, were concerned that they would be expected to be continuously on call. The majority in both groups agreed that any tele-ICU solution must be simple to use and integrate easily into existing organisational structures, networks, and work routines. Additionally, COVID-19 significantly influenced expectations: those who reported having more personal health concerns during the pandemic were more predisposed to favour the use of tele-ICU. Conclusions Overall, tele-ICU supports better care, but a successful implementation depends on its ease of use and context-sensitive approaches. Effectively integrating tele-ICU solutions into daily clinical routines requires input from nurses and physicians and their involvement in the implementation process from the outset, as well as consideration of existing organisational structures. Such measures will vastly increase the chance of acceptance and successful adoption of telemedical solutions in clinical practice.
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