Media outlets influence social attitudes toward health habits. The analysis of tweets has become a tool for health researchers.
Objective
The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of tweets about women's health and the interest generated among Twitter users.
Methods
We investigated tweets posted by 25 major U.S. media outlets about pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women's health between January 2009 and December 2019 as well as the retweets generated. In addition, we measured the sentiment analysis of these tweets as well as their potential dissemination.
Results
A total of 376 tweets were analyzed. Pre-menopausal women's health accounted for most of the tweets (75.3%). Contraception was the main focus of the tweets, while a very limited number were related to infertility (1.4%). With regard to medical content, the effectiveness of contraceptive methods was the most frequent topic (46.2%). However, tweets related to side effects achieved the highest retweet-to-tweet ratio (70.3). The analysis of sentiments showed negative perceptions on tubal ligation.
Conclusions
The U.S. media outlets analyzed are more interested in pre-menopausal than in post-menopausal women health and focused their content on contraception, while Twitter users showed greater interest in side effects.
media outlets womens health analysis, Twitter health communication, social media womens health thematic, health information media influence, digital health communication gender, womens health news coverage, social media health attitudes, Twitter quantitative analysis health, media health literacy, public health social media
PMID 34136450 34136450 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2021.644284 10.3389/fpubh.2021.644284 Alvarez-Mon et al. 2021, Alvarez-Mon 2021
Cite this article
Alvarez-Mon, M. A., Donat-Vargas, C., Llavero-Valero, M., Gea, A., Alvarez-Mon, M., Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A., & Lopez-Del Burgo, C. (2021). Analysis of Media Outlets on Women's Health: Thematic and Quantitative Analyses Using Twitter. Frontiers in public health, 9, 644284. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.644284
Alvarez-Mon MA, Donat-Vargas C, Llavero-Valero M, Gea A, Alvarez-Mon M, Martinez-Gonzalez MA, et al. Analysis of Media Outlets on Women's Health: Thematic and Quantitative Analyses Using Twitter. Front Public Health. 2021;9:644284. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.644284
Alvarez-Mon, Miguel A., et al. "Analysis of Media Outlets on Women's Health: Thematic and Quantitative Analyses Using Twitter." Frontiers in public health, vol. 9, 2021, pp. 644284.
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