Wasim Ahmed

Public health implications of #ShoutYourAbortion

OBJECTIVESnSocial media platforms such as Twitter allow members of the public to raise awareness for issues, causes and events. This study investigated the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion that was created to combat the stigma that can be associated with the medical procedure of abortion.nnnSTUDY DESIGNnA mixed method and case study approach was used.nnnMETHODSnTwitter data were retrieved and analysed by social network analysis, a subset of tweets were qualitatively coded and the location of tweets was examined.nnnRESULTSnIt was found that a sizable group of users shared tweets denouncing the hashtag and the these users formed a cluster in themselves. The study also identified two narratives: anti-abortion and pro-abortion content.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe results have implications for public health organisations and agencies interested in devising digital health campaigns. That is, when devising health campaigns, it is essential to consider the tone of the campaign and whether it is likely to provoke citizens who may have opposing views. Moreover, future campaigns could communicate information surrounding the dangers of unsafe abortions and the broad spectrum of reasons that women may seek abortion, for example, when the child and/or mothers health is at risk.

Measuring the Effect of Public Health Campaigns on Twitter: The Case of World Autism Awareness Day

Mass media campaigns are traditional methods of raising public awareness in order to reinforce positive behaviors and beliefs. However, social media platforms such as Twitter have the potential to offer an additional route into raising awareness of general and specific health conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which a public health campaign, World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD), could increase Twitter activity and influence the average sentiment on Twitter, and to discover the types of information that was shared on the platform during a targeted awareness campaign. This study gathered over 2,315,283 tweets in a two-month period. Evidence suggests that the autism campaign, WAAD, was successful in raising awareness on Twitter, as an increase in both the volume of tweets and level of positive sentiment were observed during this time. In addition, a framework for assessing the success of health campaigns was developed. Further work is required on this topic to determine whether health campaigns have any long lasting impact on Twitter users.

An Analysis of Twitter Usage Among Startups in Europe

Startups are becoming part of the development of policies by the European Commission and corporate strategies. The business press widely covers startups, as does the other media. Local governments in Europe are also developing financial and administrative programs to support startups. Most industries now use social media, and in particular Twitter, to reach their customers. Twitter provides startups the opportunity to reach a global audience at a relatively low cost and still support both promotion and branding. However, there’s a lack of evidence-based research, which examines the Twitter usage among startups within the European Union (EU). This paper outlines preliminary findings about Twitter usage among EU startup founders and contributes to an ongoing study that seeks to define the concept of a startup. Exploring Twitter usage among European startup founders could provide insight into their behavior and expand overall knowledge of how to best define the concept of a startup. The authors retrieved data used in the analysis from one of the most extensive EU databases, F6S.com. The authors collected the Twitter data user handles of EU startups in June and August 2015 and manually verified each Twitter account, which allowed the retrieval of data. The authors then entered the verified data (i.e., verified Twitter accounts) into the Twitter Archiving Google Sheets (TAGS) system that collected data for the purpose this longitudinal study. The results of this research provide insight into temporal dynamics of Twitter usage, including Twitter account creation, followers, and tweets. There are statistically significant correlations between the Twitter activity of EU startups and the invested amount in that country overall and per capita. This paper offers a methodological contribution in regard to the social media data retrieval techniques, which can provide an insight into Twitter usage among EU startups founders.

Evaluation of websites that contain information relating to malaria in pregnancy

OBJECTIVESnThe study identified available websites on malaria in pregnancy on the World Wide Web and sought to evaluate their readability and information quality.nnnSTUDY DESIGNnA purposeful sample of websites were selected which provided information on Malaria in pregnancy.nnnMETHODSnA total of 31 websites were identified from searches using Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines. Two generic tools (Discern and HON), one specific tool designed to assess information quality of malaria in pregnancy and readability tests (Flesch Reading Ease and Flesh-Kincaid Grade level) were used to evaluate the websites.nnnRESULTSnMost of the websites scored below 50% with the HON Code tool, with most lacking information on the symptoms. One website scored over 70 with the reading ease with two (2) achieving a score of 7 for the reading level test. The readability of the websites was too advanced for an ordinary consumer.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe results of this study indicated that the information quality of malaria in pregnancy websites varied from fair to medium. It was also found that the readability of the websites was too advanced for an ordinary consumer. These findings suggest that most websites are not comprehensive in addressing all the relevant aspects of malaria in pregnancy.

Moral Panic through the Lens of Twitter: An Analysis of Infectious Disease Outbreaks

This paper presents an in-depth qualitative analysis of n=13,373 tweets that relate to the peak of the Swine Flu outbreak of 2009, and the Ebola outbreak of 2014. Tweets were analysed using thematic analysis and a number of themes and sub-themes were identified. The results were brought together in an abstraction phase and the commonalities between the cases were studied. An interesting similarity which emerged was the rate at which Twitter users expressed intense fear and panic akin to that of the sociological concept of moral panic. Moreover, a number of discussions were found to emerge which were not reported in previous literature. Our study is the largest in-depth analysis of tweets on infectious diseases. Our results will inform public health strategies for future infectious disease outbreaks. Future work will seek to conduct further comparisons and explore relevant health theory.

Implementation of a metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin service led by a palliative physician

ABSTRACT Background: Cancer of unknown primary is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United Kingdom. National guidance in 2010 recommended the establishment of a dedicated unknown primary team to facilitate targeted investigation and symptom control. A service development project was undertaken to identify those affected by malignancy of unknown origin and institute a pathway for coordinating their care led by a palliative physician. Method: In order to describe the patient population and illness trajectory and to assess the effect of the new pathway on the clinical outcomes we used a retrospective and prospective comparative case notes survey to identify the pre- and post-pathway population. This took place in secondary care. Inclusion criteria were patients with metastatic disease with no known primary; exclusion criteria were where the site of metastasis was so suggestive of a primary that it would be managed as per that disease process. 88 patients were included.Results: Mean age was 72.5 years. The mean survival time from presentation was 81.8 days. There was no difference pre or during pathway implementation in age, performance status or survival time. There was no reduction in the numbers referred for tumour directed therapy. There was a non-statistically significant reduction in the number who died in hospital during the pathway implementation. Conclusions: This study suggests having a metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin service led by a palliative physician does not reduce the number referred for tumour directed therapy. It also adds evidence of the poor prognosis and thus the need for early palliative care input.

Physical activity and long-term survival in older men and women: A 21 year longitudinal study

ABSTRACT The NLSAA survey was conducted in 1985 with 1,042 participants. As of 31st May 2006 (21 years from baseline), there were 919 recorded deaths (368 men and 551 women). Mortality analyses were from baseline interview to death or censorship (May 2006). Men and women were analysed separately in unadjusted models and adjusting for demographic and health-related variables. In separate unadjusted models, participation in outdoor activities, indoor productive activities, leisure activities, walking, undertaking activities requiring flexibility, and physical effort each were associated with reduced long-term mortality among both men and women. In adjusted models, participation in physical activities had no significant association with mortality risk for men. Among women, participation in outdoor activities and leisure activities remained significantly associated with long-term survival in adjusted models. Among men, the benefits of physical activities for mortality risk were explained through demographic, health, and psychosocial variables. However, participation in outdoor and leisure physical activities was beneficial for women and had a significant association with survival, even when controlling for demographic, health and psychosocial variables. Therefore, encouraging participation in specific physical activities, such as gardening, swimming, and dancing among older women may improve long-term survival.

Topics Discussed on Twitter at the Beginning of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic in United States

Health epidemics typically generate bursts of attention on social media. Considering a recent outbreak, we conducted evidence-based research which examines the information that was shared on Twitter on the 30th of September of 2014, when the first infection of Ebola outside of West Africa was diagnosed. The aim of this study was to retrieve data from Twitter from the 30th of September 2014 and examine the topics discussed relating to this specific outbreak. With regards to methods, we retrieved data via the Firehose API, sampled tweets, performed two phases of content analysis, and generated an inter-coder reliability statistic. We found that the most frequent tweets were based on Ebola news, updates, or information, and personal opinions and interest related to Ebola. When investigating tweets that were not resource-related or spam-based we found that some users were expressing humour and sarcasm towards the Ebola outbreak.

Chapter 4: Using Twitter as a Data Source: An Overview of Ethical, Legal, and Methodological Challenges

This chapter provides an overview of the specific legal, ethical, and privacy issues that can arise when conducting research using Twitter data. Existing literature is reviewed to inform those who may be undertaking social media research. We also present a number of industry and academic case studies in order to highlight the challenges that may arise in research projects using social media data. Finally, the chapter provides an overview of the process that was followed to gain ethics approval for a Ph.D. project using Twitter as a primary source of data. By outlining a number of Twitter-specific research case studies, the chapter will be a valuable resource to those considering the ethical implications of their own research projects utilizing social media data. Moreover, the chapter outlines existing work looking at the ethical practicalities of social media data and relates their applicability to researching Twitter.