A web-based program to increase knowledge and reduce cigarette and nargila smoking among Arab university students in Israel: mixed-methods study to test acceptability.

BACKGROUND: Among Arab citizens in Israel, cigarette and nargila (hookah, waterpipe) smoking is a serious public health problem, particularly among the young adult population. With the dramatic increase of Internet and computer use among Arab college and university students, a Web-based program may provide an easy, accessible tool to reduce smoking rates without heavy resource demands required by traditional methods. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to examine the acceptability and feasibility of a pilot Web-based program that provides tailored feedback to increase smoking knowledge and reduce cigarette and nargila smoking behaviors among Arab college/university students in Israel. METHODS: A pilot Web-based program was developed, consisting of a self-administered questionnaire and feedback system on cigarette and nargila smoking. Arab university students were recruited to participate in a mixed-methods study, using both quantitative (pre-/posttest study design) and qualitative tools. A posttest was implemented at 1 month following participation in the intervention to assess any changes in smoking knowledge and behaviors. Focus group sessions were implemented to assess acceptability and preferences related to the Web-based program. RESULTS: A total of 225 participants-response rate of 63.2% (225/356)-completed the intervention at baseline and at 1-month poststudy, and were used for the comparative analysis. Statistically significant reductions in nargila smoking among participants (P=.001) were found. The intervention did not result in reductions in cigarette smoking. However, the tailored Web intervention resulted in statistically significant increases in the intention to quit smoking (P=.021). No statistically significant increases in knowledge were seen at 1-month poststudy. Participants expressed high satisfaction with the intervention and 93.8% (211/225) of those who completed the intervention at both time intervals reported that they would recommend the program to their friends, indicating excellent acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. This was further emphasized in the focus group sessions. CONCLUSIONS: A tailored Web-based program may be a promising tool to reduce nargila smoking among Arab university students in Israel. The tailored Web intervention was not successful at significantly reducing cigarette smoking or increasing knowledge. However, the intervention did increase participants' intention to quit smoking. Participants considered the Web-based tool to be an interesting, feasible, and highly acceptable strategy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN59207794; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN59207794 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6VkYOBNOJ).

Associative linking for collaborative thinking: Self-organization of content in online Q&A communities via user-generated links.

Virtual collaborative Q&A communities generate shared knowledge through the interaction of people and content. This knowledge is often fragmented, and its value as a collective, collaboratively formed product, is largely overlooked. Inspired by work on individual mental semantic networks, the current study explores the networks formed by user-added associative links as reflecting an aspect of self-organization within the communities' collaborative knowledge sharing. Using eight Q&A topic-centered discussions from the Stack Exchange platform, it investigated how associative links form internal structures within the networks. Network analysis tools were used to derive topological indicator metrics of complex structures from associatively-linked networks. Similar metrics extracted from 1000 simulated randomly linked networks of comparable sizes and growth patterns were used to generate estimated sampling distributions through bootstrap resampling, and 99% confidence intervals were constructed for each metric. The discussion-network indicators were compared against these. Results showed that participant-added associative links largely led to networks that were more clustered, integrated, and included posts with more connections than those that would be expected in random networks of similar size and growth pattern. The differences were observed to increase over time. Also, the largest connected subgraphs within the discussion networks were found to be modular. Limited qualitative observations have also pointed to the impacts of external content-related events on the network structures. The findings strengthen the notion that the networks emerging from associative link sharing resemble other information networks that are characterized by internal structures suggesting self-organization, laying the ground for further exploration of collaborative linking as a form of collective knowledge organization. It underscores the importance of recognizing and leveraging this latent mechanism in both theory and practice.

Plastic Surgery Faces the Web: Analysis of the Popular Social Media for Plastic Surgeons.

BACKGROUND: The use of social media is growing tremendously along with its impact on the practice of plastic surgery, for better or for worse. Patients are increasingly using social media to obtain information about either the procedure or the surgeon. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to examine social media posting regarding plastic surgery and to analyze successful online communication methods of the plastic surgeons with the public. METHODS: A prospective analysis of 3 popular, global social media networks was performed, using the English language key phrases "plastic surgery" and "#plastic_surgery." Three hundred posts related to plastic surgery published on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook in November 2017 were assessed by the following parameters: author identity, subject (self-promotion, educational, commercial, and personal posts), "social media currency" (likes, shares, comments, and views), and if special effects (videos, photos, etc.) or viral subjects such as reality stars or shaming were utilized. RESULTS: Sixty-three percentage of the posts on Instagram originated with plastic surgeons, compared with 18% on Facebook and only 13% on YouTube (P < 0.01); together, the plastic surgeons' posts comprise 31% of the total posts, whereas 49% of posts published by commercial companies (P < 0.01). Most of the posts on Instagram were self-promotional (83%), in comparison to Facebook (29%) or YouTube (6%); P < 0.01. YouTube posts are more personal in nature compared with Instagram and Facebook [39%, 7%, 9%, respectively (P < 0.01)]. Educational content in the posts accounts for only 16% of them, P < 0.01. Shaming is seen in 21% of the posts, especially in Facebook (39%), and mainly related to famous public figures (25%); P < 0.05. Celebrity endorsed posts received more attention in every aspect of social media currency (likes, comments, shares, and views). The use of images of women attracts attention and is widely used in social media posts of plastic surgery (68%). Posts that chose to include videos (22%) are generously rewarded. Online shaming also attracts attention, mostly found in Facebook (39%), and mainly of a public figure (25%). The 10 most powerful attention drawing motives were jokes, attractive female plastic surgeons, celebrities, personal stories, provocative surgeries, videos or photos of surgeries, sex, shaming, and patient education. CONCLUSION: Social media have become an important tool for self-promotion and a means to providing better customer service. This trend applies to the plastic surgeon as well. The study's main insights were to use Instagram, personal stories, educational post, videos and other unique inputs, and involve celebrities in the posts. In general, it would be wise to invest and understand these communication platforms, as they have become the path to dominate the field.

Off the Radar: Comparative Evaluation of Radial Visualization Solutions for Composite Indicators.

A composite indicator (CI) is a measuring and benchmark tool used to capture multi-dimensional concepts, such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage. Individual indicators are selected and combined to reflect a phenomena being measured. Visualization of a composite indicator is recommended as a tool to enable interested stakeholders, as well as the public audience, to better understand the indicator components and evolution over time. However, existing CI visualizations introduce a variety of solutions and there is a lack in CI's visualization guidelines. Radial visualizations are popular among these solutions because of CI's inherent multi-dimensionality. Although in dispute, Radar-charts are often used for CI presentation. However, no empirical evidence on Radar's effectiveness and efficiency for common CI tasks is available. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by reporting on a controlled experiment that compares the Radar chart technique with two other radial visualization methods: Flower-charts as used in the well-known OECD Betterlife index, and Circle-charts which could be adopted for this purpose. Examples of these charts in the current context are shown in Figure 1. We evaluated these charts, showing the same data with each of the mentioned techniques applying small multiple views for different dimensions of the data. We compared users' performance and preference empirically under a formal task-taxonomy. Results indicate that the Radar chart was the least effective and least liked, while performance of the two other options were mixed and dependent on the task. Results also showed strong preference of participants toward the Flower chart. Summarizing our results, we provide specific design guidelines for composite indicator visualization. Fig. 1: Three radial solutions for composite indicator visualizations compared empirically for users' performance and preferences.