COVID-19 Induced Environments, Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes and Problematic Behaviors: Evidence from Children with Syndromic Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Between July 2020 and January 2021, 230 principal caregivers completed a questionnaire to measure proxy-assessed health-related quality of life outcomes (HRQoL), behavioral outcomes in children with syndromic autism spectrum disorders and COVID-19 induced changes to lifestyle and environments. HRQoL and behavioral outcomes reported earlier during the pandemic were generally worse compared to those reported later. COVID-19 induced reduction to a caregiver's mental health appointments, and hours spent watching TV were associated with decreases in HRQoL and increased the likelihood of problematic behaviors. Increasing time outdoors and time away from digital devices were positively associated with HRQoL and behaviors and might protect children from COVID-19 induced restrictions.

Resilience, and positive parenting in parents of children with syndromic autism and intellectual disability. Evidence from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family's quality of life and parent-child relationships.

Family quality of life (FQoL) outcomes collected during the first year of COVID-19 has been combined with 2018 data to estimate the outbreak's impact on parental outcomes on a sample of 230 families with syndromic autistic children and those with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Despite challenges imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, our study found that FQoL outcomes reported by participating parents during the first year of COVID-19 appears to be similar to ratings from a prepandemic study of families with the same conditions. Parents of children in our sample generally displayed a stable functioning trajectory as measured by the validated FQoL instrument. Across syndromic autistic groups considered, families reported that their relationships with their children were positive. Our findings provide evidence of families' resilience which might explain the presence of positive parent-child interactions during COVID-19. Exploring mechanisms which would explain how families with autistic and ID children confront, manage disruptive experiences, and buffer COVID-19 induced stress is a fruitful direction for future research.

Using crowdsourced medicine to manage uncertainty on Reddit: The case of COVID-19 long-haulers.

OBJECTIVE: Causes of and treatments for long-COVID syndrome remain unknown. Drawing on uncertainty management theory (UMT), this study elucidates the communicative nature of crowdsourced medicine as a means by which COVID "long-haulers" respond to their poorly understood illness. METHODS: 31,892 posts on the long-haulers subreddit (r/covidlonghaulers) were analyzed, starting with its creation date, July 24th, 2020, until January 7, 2021. The Meaning Extraction Method was used to identify clusters of words that mathematically group together across the text observations. RESULTS: Analyses yielded 16 distinct factors of words, which we thematized based on their composition, the data, and UMT. The 16 themes encompassed symptoms (e.g., pain, respiratory, sensory), diagnostic concerns (testing, diagnosis), broad health concerns (immunity, physical activity, diet), chronicity, support, identity, and anxiety. CONCLUSION: Findings provide a succinct, yet robust set of themes reflecting the information-seeking (i.e., "This is happening to me") and support-seeking functions of long-haulers' talk (i.e., "Is this happening to you?"). Findings have implications for collective uncertainty management, online crowdsourcing, and patient advocacy. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: We recommend that health care providers employ sensitivity when addressing the anxiety that long-haulers are experiencing while also validating that their physical symptoms are real. Online communities help long-haulers manage their uncertainty.

Mediating Medical Marijuana: Exploring How Veterans Discuss Their Stigmatized Substance Use on Reddit.

This paper uses SIDE theory and an information seeking lens to examine the types of information and support messages (N = 126,977 posts) veterans seek on the social networking site Reddit regarding medical marijuana use. A combination of automated text analysis strategies paired with thematic analysis produced eight themes: Doctor Patient Conversations, Drug Test, Legality, Legal Policy, Prescription Drug Use/Other Substance Use, Point of View, Reasons for Use, and V.A. Findings reveal that a large portion of veterans discuss how medical marijuana can be used to self-medicate for a number of issues, including PTSD, anxiety, and sleep deprivation. Results also highlighted missing topics within veterans' conversations about medical marijuana use. For instance, veterans rarely discuss the strategies they use to talk to their doctor about their medical marijuana use. Practical implications and directions for future research are offered.

Heroes or Health Victims?: Exploring How the Elite Media Frames Veterans on Veterans Day.

We examine the frames the elite news media uses to portray veterans on and surrounding Veterans Day 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. We use mental health illness and media framing literature to explore how, why, and to what extent Veterans Day news coverage uses different media frames across the four consecutive years. We compiled a Media Coverage Corpora for each year, which contains the quotes and paraphrased remarks used in all veterans news stories for that year. In our primary study, we applied the meaning extraction method (MEM) to extract emergent media frames for Veterans Day 2014 and compiled a word frequency list, which captures the words most commonly used within the corpora. In post hoc analyses, we collected news stories and compiled word frequency lists for Veterans Day 2012, 2013, and 2015. Our findings reveal dissenting frames across 2012, 2013, and 2014 Veterans Day media coverage. Word frequency results suggest the 2012 and 2013 media frames largely celebrate Veterans as heroes, but the 2014 coverage depicts veterans as victimized by their wartime experiences. Furthermore, our results demonstrate how the prevailing 2015 media frames could be a reaction to 2014 frames that portrayed veterans as health victims. We consider the ramifications of this binary portrayal of veterans as either health victims or heroes and discuss the implications of these dueling frames for veterans' access to healthcare resources.