Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia
Background: Patients utilize social media in search of support networks. Reddit is one of the most popular social media sites and allows users to anonymously connect. Anesthesia patients are actively using Reddit to discuss their treatment options and experiences within the medical system. Method...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2023-02-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Medical Students |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/1687 |
| _version_ | 1797699046503088128 |
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| author | Khalid El-Jack Korey Henderson Anietie U. Andy Lauren Southwick |
| author_facet | Khalid El-Jack Korey Henderson Anietie U. Andy Lauren Southwick |
| author_sort | Khalid El-Jack |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background: Patients utilize social media in search of support networks. Reddit is one of the most popular social media sites and allows users to anonymously connect. Anesthesia patients are actively using Reddit to discuss their treatment options and experiences within the medical system.
Methods: Posts published on an active Reddit forum on Anesthesia (i.e., /r/Anesthesia) were used. Big Query was used to collect posts from /r/Anesthesia. We collected 3,288 posts published between December 2015 and August 2019. We collected a control group of 3,288 posts from a Reddit forum not related to Anesthesia. Using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) we extracted 20 topics from our data set. The LDA topic themes most associated with posts in /r/Anesthesia compared to the control group were determined.
Results: LDA analysis of posts in /r/Anesthesia relative to a control group produced 6 distinct categories of posts (Table 1). The posts most associated with /r/Anesthesia when compared to a control group were posts belonging to the “Physician-Patient Experience” category (Cohen’s d= 0.389) while the posts least associated with /r/Anesthesia were from the “Uncertainties” category of posts (Cohen’s d= 0.147). Example experiences from members of the /r/Anesthesia forum highlight subjective experiences of patients undergoing anesthesia.
Conclusions: The language used on social media can provide insights into an individual's experience with anesthesia and inform physicians about patient concerns. Anesthesiologists are poised to address these concerns and prevent anonymous misinformation by providing verified physician insights on the forum /r/Anesthesia.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:02:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9909abe9b47c467d817f3509c9fc771d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-6327 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:02:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Medical Students |
| spelling | doaj.art-9909abe9b47c467d817f3509c9fc771d2023-09-03T11:31:39ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghInternational Journal of Medical Students2076-63272023-02-0110410.5195/ijms.2022.1687Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about AnesthesiaKhalid El-Jack0Korey Henderson1Anietie U. Andy2Lauren Southwick3Perelman School of MedicinePerelman School of MedicineCenter for Digital Health, University of PennsylvaniaCenter for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania Background: Patients utilize social media in search of support networks. Reddit is one of the most popular social media sites and allows users to anonymously connect. Anesthesia patients are actively using Reddit to discuss their treatment options and experiences within the medical system. Methods: Posts published on an active Reddit forum on Anesthesia (i.e., /r/Anesthesia) were used. Big Query was used to collect posts from /r/Anesthesia. We collected 3,288 posts published between December 2015 and August 2019. We collected a control group of 3,288 posts from a Reddit forum not related to Anesthesia. Using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) we extracted 20 topics from our data set. The LDA topic themes most associated with posts in /r/Anesthesia compared to the control group were determined. Results: LDA analysis of posts in /r/Anesthesia relative to a control group produced 6 distinct categories of posts (Table 1). The posts most associated with /r/Anesthesia when compared to a control group were posts belonging to the “Physician-Patient Experience” category (Cohen’s d= 0.389) while the posts least associated with /r/Anesthesia were from the “Uncertainties” category of posts (Cohen’s d= 0.147). Example experiences from members of the /r/Anesthesia forum highlight subjective experiences of patients undergoing anesthesia. Conclusions: The language used on social media can provide insights into an individual's experience with anesthesia and inform physicians about patient concerns. Anesthesiologists are poised to address these concerns and prevent anonymous misinformation by providing verified physician insights on the forum /r/Anesthesia. https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/1687Social MediaFacebookRedditTwitterAnesthesia |
| spellingShingle | Khalid El-Jack Korey Henderson Anietie U. Andy Lauren Southwick Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia International Journal of Medical Students Social Media Anesthesia |
| title | Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia |
| title_full | Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia |
| title_fullStr | Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia |
| title_short | Reddit Users' Questions and Concerns about Anesthesia |
| title_sort | reddit users questions and concerns about anesthesia |
| topic | Social Media Anesthesia |
| url | https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/1687 |
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