JMIR public health and surveillance
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Jan 2021
How Health Care Workers Wield Influence Through Twitter Hashtags: Retrospective Cross-sectional Study of the Gun Violence and COVID-19 Public Health Crises.
Twitter has emerged as a novel way for physicians to share ideas and advocate for policy change. #ThisIsOurLane (firearm injury) and #GetUsPPE (COVID-19) are examples of nationwide health care-led Twitter campaigns that went viral. Health care-initiated Twitter hashtags regarding major public health topics have gained national attention, but their content has not been systematically examined. ⋯ Tweets with health care-led hashtags expressed more positivity and more action-oriented language than the comparison hashtags. As social media is increasingly used for news discourse, public education, and grassroots organizing, the public health community can take advantage of social media's broad reach to amplify truthful, actionable messages around public health issues.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Jan 2021
Young Adults' Perspectives on the Use of Symptom Checkers for Self-Triage and Self-Diagnosis: Qualitative Study.
Young adults often browse the internet for self-triage and diagnosis. More sophisticated digital platforms such as symptom checkers have recently become pervasive; however, little is known about their use. ⋯ Awareness related to the existence of symptom checkers and their integration into the health care system are required to maximize benefits related to these platforms. Addressing the barriers identified in this study is likely to increase the acceptance and use of symptom checkers by young adults.
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JMIR Public Health Surveill · Jan 2021
Observational StudyElectronic Cigarette Users' Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Study Using Twitter Data.
Previous studies have shown that electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users might be more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and could develop more severe symptoms if they contract the disease owing to their impaired immune responses to viral infections. Social media platforms such as Twitter have been widely used by individuals worldwide to express their responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Our findings show that Twitter users who tweeted about e-cigarettes had more concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings can inform public health practitioners to use social media platforms such as Twitter for timely monitoring of public responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and educating and encouraging current e-cigarette users to quit vaping to minimize the risks associated with COVID-19.