ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Information on social media may affect peoples' contraceptive decision making. We performed an exploratory analysis of contraceptive content on Twitter (recently renamed X), a popular social media platform. METHODS: We selected a random subset of 1% of publicly available, English-language tweets related to reversible, prescription contraceptive methods posted between January 2014 and December 2019. We oversampled tweets for the contraceptive patch to ensure at least 200 tweets per method. To create the codebook, we identified common themes specific to tweet content topics, tweet sources, and tweets soliciting information or providing advice. All posts were coded by two team members, and differences were adjudicated by a third reviewer. Descriptive analyses were reported with accompanying qualitative findings. RESULTS: During the study period, 457,369 tweets about reversible contraceptive methods were published, with a random sample of 4,434 tweets used for final analysis. Tweets most frequently discussed contraceptive method decision-making (26.7%) and side effects (20.5%), particularly for long-acting reversible contraceptive methods and the depot medroxyprogesterone acetate shot. Tweets about logistics of use or adherence were common for short-acting reversible contraceptives. Tweets were frequently posted by contraceptive consumers (50.6%). A small proportion of tweets explicitly requested information (6.2%) or provided advice (4.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should be aware that individuals are exposed to information through Twitter that may affect contraceptive perceptions and decision making, particularly regarding long-acting reversible contraceptives. Social media is a valuable source for studying contraceptive beliefs missing in traditional health research and may be used by professionals to disseminate accurate contraceptive information.
ABSTRACT
Selective serotonin transport (SERT) inhibitors such as fluoxetine are the most commonly prescribed treatments for depression. Although efficacious for many symptoms of depression, motivational impairments such as psychomotor retardation, anergia, fatigue and amotivation are relatively resistant to treatment with SERT inhibitors, and these drugs have been reported to exacerbate motivational deficits in some people. In order to study motivational dysfunctions in animal models, procedures have been developed to measure effort-related decision making, which offer animals a choice between high effort actions leading to highly valued reinforcers, or low effort/low reward options. In the present studies, male and female rats were tested on two different tests of effort-based choice: a fixed ratio 5 (FR5)/chow feeding choice procedure and a running wheel (RW)/chow feeding choice task. The baseline pattern of choice differed across tasks for males and females, with males pressing the lever more than females on the operant task, and females running more than males on the RW task. Administration of the SERT inhibitor and antidepressant fluoxetine suppressed the higher effort activity on each task (lever pressing and wheel running) in both males and females. The serotonin receptor mediating the suppressive effects of fluoxetine is uncertain, because serotonin antagonists with different patterns of receptor selectivity failed to reverse the effects of fluoxetine. Nevertheless, these studies uncovered important sex differences, and demonstrated that the suppressive effects of fluoxetine on high effort activities are not limited to tasks involving food reinforced behavior or appetite suppressive effects. It is possible that this line of research will contribute to an understanding of the neurochemical factors regulating selection of voluntary physical activity vs. sedentary behaviors, which could be relevant for understanding the role of physical activity in psychiatric disorders.