RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, we did not find studies that have explored the daily expressions of the population. Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the emotional well-being of the Colombian population. METHODS: We performed a Twitter metrics and trend analysis. Initially, in the trend analysis, we calculated the average duration in hours of the 20 most popular trending topics of the day in Colombia and we grouped them into trends related to COVID-19 and unrelated trends. Subsequently, we identified dates of events associated with the pandemic relevant to the country, and they were related to the behaviour of the trends studied. Additionally, we did an exploratory analysis of these, selected the tweets with the greatest reach and categorised them in an inductive way to analyse them qualitatively. RESULTS: Issues not related to COVID-19 were more far-reaching than those related to coronavirus. However, a rise in these issues was seen on some dates consistent with important events in Colombia. We found expressions of approval and disapproval, solidarity and accusation. Inductively, we identified categories of informative tweets, humour, fear, stigma and discrimination, politics and entities, citizen complaints, and self-care and optimism. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic generates different reactions in the population, which increasingly have more tools to express themselves and know the opinions of others. Social networks play a fundamental role in the communication of the population, so this content could serve as a public health surveillance tool and a useful and accessible means of communication in the management of health crises.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Mídias Sociais , Humanos , COVID-19/psicologia , Pandemias , Colômbia , SARS-CoV-2RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, we did not find studies that have explored the daily expressions of the population. Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the emotional well-being of the Colombian population. METHODS: We performed a Twitter metrics and trend analysis. Initially, in the trend analysis, we calculated the average duration in hours of the 20 most popular trending topics of the day in Colombia and we grouped them into trends related to COVID-19 and unrelated trends. Subsequently, we identified dates of events associated with the pandemic relevant to the country, and they were related to the behaviour of the trends studied. Additionally, we did an exploratory analysis of these, selected the tweets with the greatest reach and categorised them in an inductive way to analyse them qualitatively. RESULTS: Issues not related to COVID-19 were more far-reaching than those related to coronavirus. However, a rise in these issues was seen on some dates consistent with important events in Colombia. We found expressions of approval and disapproval, solidarity and accusation. Inductively, we identified categories of informative tweets, humour, fear, stigma and discrimination, politics and entities, citizen complaints, and self-care and optimism. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic generates different reactions in the population, which increasingly have more tools to express themselves and know the opinions of others. Social networks play a fundamental role in the communication of the population, so this content could serve as a public health surveillance tool and a useful and accessible means of communication in the management of health crises.
RESUMO
Introducción: La pandemia de COVID-19 ha impactado negativamente en la salud mental. Hasta un cuarto de la población ha reportado alteraciones de salud mental. Esto se ha estudiado principalmente desde una perspectiva nosológica según criterios diagnósticos; sin embargo, no encontramos estudios que hayan explorado las expresiones cotidianas de la población. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar las percepciones y repercusiones en el bienestar emocional de la población colombiana por la pandemia de COVID-19. Métodos: Se realizó un análisis de métricas y tendencias en Twitter. Inicialmente, en el análisis de tendencias se calculó el promedio de duración en horas de los 20 temas tendencia del día más populares en Colombia y las agrupamos en relacionadas con la COVID-19 y no relacionadas. Después se identificaron fechas de acontecimientos asociados con la pandemia relevantes para el país, y se relacionaron con el comportamiento de las tendencias estudiadas. Además, se hizo un análisis exploratorio de estas, se seleccionaron los tweets con mayor alcance y se categorizaron de forma inductiva para analizarlos cualitativamente. Resultados: Los temas no relacionados con COVID-19 tuvieron mayor alcance que los relacionados con coronavirus. No obstante, se vio un alza de estos temas en algunas fechas concordantes con hechos importantes en Colombia. Se hallaron manifestaciones de aprobación y desaprobación, de solidaridad y de acusación. De manera inductiva, se identificaron categorías de tweets informativos, humor, miedo, estigma y discriminación, política y entidades, denuncia ciudadana, y autocuidado y optimismo. Conclusiones: El impacto de la pandemia de COVID-19 genera diferentes reacciones en la población, que cada vez tienen más herramientas para expresarse y conocer las opiniones de los demás. Las redes sociales tienen un papel primordial en la comunicación de la población, por lo que este contenido podría servir como herramienta de vigilancia en salud pública y medio de comunicación útil y accesible en el manejo de crisis sanitarias.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, we did not find studies that have explored the daily expressions of the population. Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the emotional well-being of the Colombian population. Methods: We performed a Twitter metrics and trend analysis. Initially, in the trend analysis, we calculated the average duration in hours of the 20 most popular trending topics of the day in Colombia and we grouped them into trends related to COVID-19 and unrelated trends. Subsequently, we identified dates of events associated with the pandemic relevant to the country, and they were related to the behaviour of the trends studied. Additionally, we did an exploratory analysis of these, selected the tweets with the greatest reach and categorized them in an inductive way to analyse them qualitatively. Results: Issues not related to COVID-19 were more far-reaching than those related to coronavirus. However, a rise in these issues was seen on some dates consistent with important events in Colombia. We found expressions of approval and disapproval, solidarity and accusation. Inductively, we identified categories of informative tweets, humour, fear, stigma and discrimination, politics and entities, citizen complaints, and self-care and optimism. Conclusions: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic generates different reactions in the population, which increasingly have more tools to express themselves and know the opinions of others. Social networks play a fundamental role in the communication of the population, so this content could serve as a public health surveillance tool and a useful and accessible means of communication in the management of health crises.