Friday 3 February 2017

Mine your Data – Why understanding online health communities matters

Originally posted on the NatCen blogsite on 10/11/16 
Aude Bicquelet is Research Director in the Health team. Prior to joining NatCen in 2016, she held a fellowship at the LSE (Department of Methodology) where she taught courses on Research Design, Mixed-Methods and Text Mining approaches. 
Aude specialises in the analysis of ‘Big Qualitative Data’ on health related issues and has worked with professional and regulatory health bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of Physicians.  Methodological and substantive outputs of her research have been published in academic journals; she has also published a book on ‘Textual Analysis’ with Sage.
In addition to her interest in Health policies she is interested in Social and Political attitudes and has researched widely in the areas of political participation and élites’ attitudes towards the EU. 

A staggering 73% of adults in the UK turn to the internet when experiencing health problems. Whether it is to check symptoms, find out about available treatments or share experiences about living with a particular condition, the internet has become the first port of call with many turning to the web before they even consider going to see a doctor. While many of these conversations take place on health-related websites such as Patient or Netdoctor, people suffering from health conditions also share their experiences on social media – and health practitioners should take note.  
Earlier this week I presented findings from a recent study looking into how people use social media to discuss health issues at the ESRC Festival of Social Science. In this study, funded by the NCRM, we used text mining techniques to analyse comments about chronic pain posted under YouTube videos.  
We found that chronic pain sufferers use YouTube to describe their experiences and vent their frustration. We analysed over 700 YouTube comments, and found they can be sorted into one of five categories:
  • Sharing Experiences: commenters thank each other for sharing their experiences in the videos posted on the website, emphasising tolerance and empathy for chronic pain sufferers.
  • Expressing Frustration: chronic pain sufferers expressed their frustration in their own words. These illustrate how YouTube and other social media offer new avenues for communicating pain outside clinical contexts.
  • Coping with Pain: chronic pain sufferers used social media to share their daily practices to cope with chronic pain.
  • Alternative Therapy: commenters spoke openly about their use of alternative medicines, illegal drugs or alcohol to manage their pain. The often conflicting relationship with clinicians – who were perceived as over- or under-medicating – was also common in this category.
  • Risks and Concerns: they also discuss the risks associated with different types of medication – in particular, addiction and overdose - along with increased risks of depression associated with some treatments against pain.
The insights gained from social media research provide important substantive information for health practitioners. People communicate online in a way they don’t during interviews with researchers or during doctors’ appointments. Online forums and social media are rife with information that’s difficult to obtain through traditional research techniques where social desirability, fear of judgement or stigma, and wanting to be seen as ‘functioning well’ may influence what people are willing to say.  From a purely practical perspective, they also provide freely available naturally occurring data with access to (at times) to hard to reach groups.
Of course, there is a great deal of uncertainty around how to harness the opportunities of analysing the wealth of health information posted online in a representative, robust and ethical way.
Despite their usefulness and efficiency, analyses of Internet comments on health forums do raise a host of concerns such as representativeness – where the views of one cohort in a population having access, technical skills and inclination to post comments on Internet websites are over represented while the views of others are excluded (i.e. the so-called ‘digital divide’) and consent – where, online commentators may not expect to be research subjects.
Nevertheless, the explosion of Big Data and the popularity of online communities might precipitate the need to integrate social media analysis and health research in the near future. For instance, it has been shown that patients who visit their doctors with inappropriate or misinterpreted information from the internet will do little to enhance doctor–patient communication (see Ziebland 2004). But, doctor-patient communication could be improved simply if health professional themselves were better informed about the common fears and sometimes the common ‘myths’ disseminated on online health communities.

Watch Aude’s presentation from NatCen’s event ‘What Social Media Can Tell us about Society’, live from Twitter’s London HQ. This event was part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science
If you’re interested in how social media research can help you, please get in touch: aude.bicquelet@natcen.ac.uk or new-business@natcen.ac.uk

23 comments:

  1. It's interesting that many of the bloggers to helped clarify a few things for me as well as giving.Most of ideas can be nice content.The people to give them a good shake to get your point and across the command.

    Digital Marketing Course in Chennai

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am definitely enjoying your website. You definitely have some great insight and great stories.
    customerhealthguide.info

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Natural herbs have cured so many illness that drugs and injection cant
      cure. I've seen the great importance of natural herbs and the wonderful
      work they have done in people's lives. i read people's testimonies online
      on how they were cured of herpes, HIV, diabetics etc by Dr. voodoo herbal
      medicine, so i decided to contact the doctor because i know nature has the
      power to heal anything. I was diagnosed with HIV for the past 7 years but
      Dr. voodoo cured me with his herbs and i referred my aunt and her husband
      to him immediately because they were both suffering from herpes but to God
      be the glory, they were cured too .I know is hard to believe but am a
      living testimony. There is no harm trying herbs. He is also a spell caster,
      he cast spell to restore broken marriages and he cast good luck spells to
      prosper and excel in life. Contact Dr voodoo on Whatsapp or call him
      +2348140120719 OR email him voodoospelltemple66@gmail.com

      Delete
  3. Nice, thanks for writing this. i always read your every articales.your word are so percious keep writing for us
    aqtsoft.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you a lot for providing individuals with a very spectacular possibility to read critical reviews from this site.
    SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
    IPL 2017 Auctions

    ReplyDelete
  5. health
    Excellent blog, you have here so much cool information!..

    ReplyDelete
  6. nice blog.http://beauty-health-info.blogspot.in/2013/12/habitual-abortion-symptoms-causes.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Enthusiastic words written in this blog helped me to enhance my skills as well as helped me to know how I can help myself on my own. I am really glad to come at this platform.
    อาหารเสริมบํารุงสมองความจํา

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am thankful for this blog to gave me much knowledge regarding my area of work. I also want to make some addition on this platform which must be in knowledge of people who really in need. Thanks.
    ออกแบบสื่อสิ่งพิมพ์

    ReplyDelete
  9. written content. I added new knowledge to my database for essay writing skill.
    therapie haarlem

    ReplyDelete
  10. That’s what I was looking for. I am talking about all topics bundled in this blog. They all are really very useful for me as well as for my team. We are definitely going to use its highlighted information.
    tantra amsterdam

    ReplyDelete
  11. Now day, everything is going to find a new but well settled and successful stream for their career. When I came to this blog, I really impressed by all the knowledge points mentioned here. Thank you for this assistance.loopbaancoaching amsterdam

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is my first time visit to your blog and I am very interested in the articles that you serve. Provide enough knowledge for me. Thank you for sharing useful and don't forget, keep sharing useful info: best treatment for under eye wrinkles

    ReplyDelete
  13. They're produced by the very best degree developers who will be distinguished for your polo dress creating. You'll find polo Ron Lauren inside exclusive array which include particular classes for men, women. https://pregnancypillowoffers.com/best/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear viewers I am here today to appreciate the good work of D.r ekpen, or helping me curing my herpes virus 1&2 Disease, I contacted the virus from my Partner, i found out he was cheating on me, so i broke up with him, 2 month later i went to test myself in the hospital when i was seeing sore on my mouth and Private areas, i was diagnosed of HSV 1&2. i tried using the acyclovir medicine but it didn't help in curing it, i went on a search and found out D.r ekpen curing people illness, and so i got his email and i was told how i can get his herbal cure, 5 days later i received his medicine after using it for 2 weeks i was tested again and was confirm negative, today i am free from HSV 1&2. Also have cure HIV, CANCER, DIABETES, HEPATITIS B etc Call or Whatapp: +2348102454875  or Email:doctorekpen222@gmail.com@ Visit webpage: https://doctorekpenherbal.home.blog/

    ReplyDelete
  15. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much.
    바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for the post and great tips..even I also think that hard work is the most important aspect of getting success..
    essay writer UK

    ReplyDelete
  17. Call Girls in Hyderabad We need genuine people looking Call Girls in Banjara Hills
    and Vip single female locanto escorts service in Hyderabad Independent Escort Thank you very much for visiting Delhi NCR. Call Girls in Gurgaon


    Split Ac Repair in Delhi NCR. Ac Repair Service in Rohini
    Fridge, Window Ac, Split Ac Gas Filling service in Delhi All Electronic Machine Repair Samsung, Lg Ac Installation near me
    AC Repair Service in Dwarka Delhi

    Hitech City Call Girls AC Repair, Led tv repair best technician
    lg Led tv repair service center near me LED TV Service Center in Delhi

    ReplyDelete
  18. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well..
    sa gaming vip

    ReplyDelete
  19. Often the okinawa flat belly tonic capsule provides quite a few combines which could be very therapeutic for trimming back on unnecessary unwanted body fat using a few minutes. That minimizes stubborn fat in the body and all intestinal dilemmas during an powerful means. Anyone with outlook to understand about okinawa flat belly tonic as well requirements can feel unengaged to drop by the idea https://astherenth.livejournal.com/354.html
    websites.

    ReplyDelete