Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis
BackgroundThe internet has been widely accessible and well accepted by young people; however, there is a limited understanding of the internet usage patterns and characteristics on issues related to health problems. The contents posted on online health communities (OHCs) are...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2021-11-01
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| Series: | JMIR Medical Informatics |
| Online Access: | https://medinform.jmir.org/2021/11/e30356 |
| _version_ | 1797735621177901056 |
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| author | Jie Wang Xin Wang Lei Wang Yan Peng |
| author_facet | Jie Wang Xin Wang Lei Wang Yan Peng |
| author_sort | Jie Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundThe internet has been widely accessible and well accepted by young people; however, there is a limited understanding of the internet usage patterns and characteristics on issues related to health problems. The contents posted on online health communities (OHCs) are valuable resources to learn about youth's health information needs.
ObjectiveIn this study, we concurrently exploited statistical analysis and topic analysis of online health information needs to explore the distribution, impact factors, and topics of interest relevant to Chinese young people.
MethodsWe collected 60,478 health-related data sets posted by young people from a well-known Chinese OHC named xywy.com. Descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis were applied to find the distribution and influence factors of the information needs of Chinese young people. Furthermore, a general 4-step topic mining strategy was presented for sparse short texts, which included sentence vectorization, dimension reduction, clustering, and keyword generation.
ResultsIn the Chinese OHC, Chinese young people had a high demand for information in the areas of gynecology and obstetrics, internal medicine, dermatology, plastic surgery, and surgery, and they focused on topics such as treatment, symptoms, causes, pathology, and diet. Females accounted for 69.67% (42,136/60,478) and young adults accounted for 87.44% (52,882/60,478) of all data. Gender, age, and disease type all had a significant effect on young people's information needs and topic preferences (P<.001).
ConclusionsWe conducted comprehensive analyses to discover the online health information needs of Chinese young people. The research findings are of great practical value to carry out health education and health knowledge dissemination inside and outside of schools according to the interests of youth, enable the innovation of information services in OHCs, and improve the health literacy of young people. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:01:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab6f6d0925944be19771c3ed3a5abb57 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2291-9694 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:01:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Medical Informatics |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab6f6d0925944be19771c3ed3a5abb572023-08-28T19:44:06ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Medical Informatics2291-96942021-11-01911e3035610.2196/30356Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical AnalysisJie Wanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1262-6719Xin Wanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8639-3818Lei Wanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6538-0193Yan Penghttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5003-6923 BackgroundThe internet has been widely accessible and well accepted by young people; however, there is a limited understanding of the internet usage patterns and characteristics on issues related to health problems. The contents posted on online health communities (OHCs) are valuable resources to learn about youth's health information needs. ObjectiveIn this study, we concurrently exploited statistical analysis and topic analysis of online health information needs to explore the distribution, impact factors, and topics of interest relevant to Chinese young people. MethodsWe collected 60,478 health-related data sets posted by young people from a well-known Chinese OHC named xywy.com. Descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis were applied to find the distribution and influence factors of the information needs of Chinese young people. Furthermore, a general 4-step topic mining strategy was presented for sparse short texts, which included sentence vectorization, dimension reduction, clustering, and keyword generation. ResultsIn the Chinese OHC, Chinese young people had a high demand for information in the areas of gynecology and obstetrics, internal medicine, dermatology, plastic surgery, and surgery, and they focused on topics such as treatment, symptoms, causes, pathology, and diet. Females accounted for 69.67% (42,136/60,478) and young adults accounted for 87.44% (52,882/60,478) of all data. Gender, age, and disease type all had a significant effect on young people's information needs and topic preferences (P<.001). ConclusionsWe conducted comprehensive analyses to discover the online health information needs of Chinese young people. The research findings are of great practical value to carry out health education and health knowledge dissemination inside and outside of schools according to the interests of youth, enable the innovation of information services in OHCs, and improve the health literacy of young people.https://medinform.jmir.org/2021/11/e30356 |
| spellingShingle | Jie Wang Xin Wang Lei Wang Yan Peng Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis JMIR Medical Informatics |
| title | Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis |
| title_full | Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis |
| title_short | Health Information Needs of Young Chinese People Based on an Online Health Community: Topic and Statistical Analysis |
| title_sort | health information needs of young chinese people based on an online health community topic and statistical analysis |
| url | https://medinform.jmir.org/2021/11/e30356 |
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