Contents and quality of travel tips on malaria in English and Spanish travel blogs.

BACKGROUND: Europe has about 10,000 imported cases of malaria each year, or around 80 cases per 100,000 trips to endemic areas. Non-use of chemoprophylaxis in travellers remains the main reason for this. The proliferation of online travel blogs as a source of advice (sometimes the only one used) for preparing a trip to an endemic area may play a role in the decision to use chemoprophylaxis. The aim of this study was to analyse the information offered on malaria in the main travel blogs in English and Spanish. METHODS: Five hundred travel blogs in English and 100 in Spanish, considered highly relevant were analysed. The relevance were according to different metrics: (1) Alexa Rank; (2) social networks (RRSS) measuring the total followers of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube; (3) number of monthly visits using the SEMrush tool; (4) domain authority; and (5) number of backlinks or incoming links using the SEMrush tool. RESULTS: Of the included travel blogs, 57% of those in English and 64% of those in Spanish offered information on malaria, and 79 and 75%, respectively, featured a discussion on malaria written as a blog post or in forum comments. Information on chemoprophylaxis was available in 56.1% of English-language blogs and 10.7% of Spanish-speaking blogs, while its side effects were discussed in 38.6 and 68.8%, respectively (p < 0.001). Content analysis revealed that the information was usually insufficient, incomplete or, more seriously, inaccurate. In many cases, this could discourage users from taking appropriate preventive measures. CONCLUSIONS: Travel blogs in English and Spanish provide low-quality information on malaria. The so-called "travel influencers" must communicate reliable, verified and quality information on malaria on their channels in a way that could contribute to reducing the burden of the disease in travellers.

Tracking and Analyzing Public Emotion Evolutions During COVID-19: A Case Study from the Event-Driven Perspective on Microblogs.

OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused substantial panic worldwide since its outbreak in December 2019. This study uses social networks to track the evolution of public emotion during COVID-19 in China and analyzes the root causes of these public emotions from an event-driven perspective. METHODS: A dataset was constructed using microblogs (n = 125,672) labeled with COVID-19-related super topics (n = 680) from 40,891 users from 1 December 2019 to 17 February 2020. Based on the skeleton and key change points of COVID-19 extracted from microblogging contents, we tracked the public's emotional evolution modes (accumulated emotions, emotion covariances, and emotion transitions) by time phase and further extracted the details of dominant social events. RESULTS: Public emotions showed different evolution modes during different phases of COVID-19. Events about the development of COVID-19 remained hot, but generally declined, and public attention shifted to other aspects of the epidemic (e.g., encouragement, support, and treatment). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the public's feedback on COVID-19 predated official accounts on the microblog platform. There were clear differences in the trending events that large users (users with many fans and readings) and common users paid attention to during each phase of COVID-19.

Evaluation of websites reached using Google in the modern digital era related to approach to cholesterol.

OBJECTIVE: The Google search engine is widely used as a source of medical information; however, legal and medical governance of the accuracy of the content retrieved is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the most read Turkish-language texts related to cholesterol during a specific period according to the validity of the content. METHODS: Google Trends was queried on January 5, 2019 for the search term 'cholesterol' and the 9 other most popular search phrases used in Turkey that included the word cholesterol. In all, 100 links were obtained for each phrase, generating a total of 1000 links. Once duplicates were eliminated, a total of 604 links was used for the study. Since there is currently no validation scoring system for this purpose in the literature, the authors created a checklist according to well-accepted recent guidelines focused on cholesterol. The content of the texts acquired was classified as misleading, insufficient but favorable, or sufficient and favorable. RESULTS: The source of the online texts studied was universities (n=8, 1.3%), hospitals (n=6, 0.9%), personal blogs (n=200, 33.1%), health websites (n=183, 30.2%), and medical journals (n=207, 34.2%). In all, 235 texts (38.9%) were classified as sufficient and favorable and 35 (5.7%) were categorized as misleading. A medical practitioner was named in 378 texts (62.5%). All of the results from universities and hospitals were ranked in the favorable group. A statistical difference in the word count was seen in a comparison of the misleading and favorable texts. CONCLUSION: Google can connect users to a significant quantity of material related to cholesterol that includes a wide range from misleading information to sufficient and favorable texts. The variation in the quality of the content on websites accessible via Google necessitates that cholesterol resource material should be selected with great care.

Reframing healthy food choices: a content analysis of Australian healthy eating blogs.

BACKGROUND: Blogs are widely being used by health professionals and consumers to communicate and access nutrition information. There are numerous benefits for dietitians to establish and contribute to healthy eating blogs. In particular, to disseminate evidence-based nutrition information to promote healthier dietary practices. The aim of this study was to explore characteristics of popular healthy eating blogs and inform the provision of healthy eating information in the Australian context. METHODS: A content analysis approach was used to identify characteristics of popular Australian healthy eating blogs. A purposive and snowball sampling approach was used to identify healthy eating blogs from search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo. Blogs were deemed eligible if: (1) the author self-identified as a health professional; (2) the blog was written by a single author; (3) the blog was written by an Australian author; (4) the blog had a minimum of one post per month, and (5) the blog focused on communicating healthy eating information to the general adult population. RESULTS: Five popular blogs were followed over a three-month period (December 2017-March 2018), with 76 blog posts included for analysis. Characteristics of these popular blogs were examined and four main features were identified: (i) clearly conveying the purpose of each post; (ii) developing a strong understanding of the reader base and their preferences; (iii) employing a consistent writing style; use of vocabulary and layout; and (iv) communicating healthy eating information in a practical manner. These findings reveal important insight into the features that promote effective nutrition communication within this context. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study highlight common characteristics of popular healthy eating blogs. Future research into the development of blog guidelines which incorporate the characteristics identified in this study can support dietitians in establishing or contributing to the successful provision of evidence-based nutritional information through blogs.

Impact of experience of psychiatrists and psychiatry residents regarding electronic communication and social networking on internet use patterns: a questionnaire survey for developing e-professionalism in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: The development of technology, novel communication, and social networking can positively or negatively affect the therapeutic alliance between patients and psychiatrists. We conducted this study to identify Internet use patterns of psychiatrists and psychiatry residents in South Korea and to provide basic data for developing e-professionalism. METHODS: In this questionnaire survey included a total of 250 participants, of which 195 (78%) completed the questionnaire. Questions included demographics, use of email, web searches, personal and professional use of websites and social networking, and negative and positive experiences of electronic communication and social networking. We confirmed the correlation between experience and use patterns of psychiatrists' electronic communication and social networking. RESULTS: A total of 129 participants (66.2%) reported that they posted their personal or professional content online, 112 (57.9%) had received patients' requests through electronic communication or social networking, and 120 (61.4%) had communicated with patients via electronic communication or social networking. In total, 170 participants (87.2%) reported that they were worried about the negative consequences of using electronic communication and social networking, and 180 (92.3%) indicated they were not educated about electronic communication or social networking. CONCLUSION: In order to reduce the negative effects of electronic communication and social networking, we need guidelines that are appropriate for the situation in South Korea. Furthermore, future research will need to identify and suggest solutions for negative experiences of electronic communication and social networking that may affect the relationship between patients and physicians.

"The challenge of managing insecurities": Parents' experiences with the care for their child with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

PURPOSE: Last decennia remarkable advances have been made in decreasing the mortality rate of children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), resulting in a relatively growing patient group with long-term complications and complex care needs. These consequences have a huge impact on the quality of life of both children and their families. To provide practical recommendations for improving the quality of care for this patient group, the present study sought to obtain insights into the experiences and needs of parents with a child with CDH. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted on the experiences and needs of parents with a child with CDH living in the Netherlands. Data was obtained by means of a discourse analyses of 17 weblogs written by parents and three online focus groups with 8-12 parents per group (n = 29). The data was analysed thematically and structured by using the model of Lawoko (2007) on parental satisfaction with care. RESULTS: Although parents were generally satisfied with the delivered care, they frequently encountered challenges in managing insecurities throughout the care process. Besides the unpredictable disease progress, insecurities were exacerbated by: (a) limited specialized knowledge of long-term consequences, (b) logistical problems, and (c) nontransparent communication. Providing security through, for instance, a clear care plan and by engaging parents in the decision-making process helped them feel more in control. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study showed that parents' main challenge was to manage insecurities. Creating securities by providing a care plan and involving parents in the decision-making process helped parents to feel more in control. To improve quality of care for children with CDH, future measures should, therefore, focus on reducing insecurities by managing expectations, improving transparency and stimulating engagement.

Weblog "How Do I Breathe?"-Design and View Statistics

Abstract Introduction Breathing is one of the vital functions of the body and is essential for the maintenance of life. Preventive measures for respiratory disorders can be used by the population, as well as early self-diagnosis and immediate search for treatment based on knowledge of this subject. Objective this study developed a weblog on the breathing function targeting young people and analyzed the statistical data of views until the present moment. Methods The weblog was developed, and the stages of analysis, design, development and implementation were followed. All texts were evaluated by the Flesch Reading Index to verify the language, and the statistical data were analyzed by the number of views, countries with the highest number of views, search terms used, most viewed pages and number of comments on the blog. Results Issues related to the breathing function and thosemost cited in the literature were selected. The blog was structured using pages with content and curiosities, with texts with minimum readability of 50%, and was made available on the internet by means of the Wordpress tool. The statistics showed an increase in the number of visits after August 2015; the countries with the highest number of views were Brazil, United States and Portugal; the search terms used were unknown or related to mouth breathing; the most viewed pages related to mouth breathing and the comments addressed questions on mouth breathing, reports and compliments. Conclusion The blog "How do I breathe?," aimed at young people and containing information about the breathing function, was developed and is available on the internet at the address: https://comoeurespiro.wordpress.com. (AU)

Integrating Social Media Into an Online Academic Program.

There is a noticeable gap in the literature regarding the programmatic integration of social media into health sciences education. Networked participatory scholarship theory supports the use of social media in higher education; associated benefits include promoting student engagement and real-time dissemination. This article describes the integration of social media use in a graduate online doctoral nursing program; specifically, blogging, microblogging, and ePortfolio integration are presented. The purpose is to improve students' utilization of social media as a professional tool.

Social media in dietetics: Insights into use and user networks.

AIM: Social media has transformed the interaction between healthcare professionals and consumers, yet research of its use in dietetics is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of dietetic user networks on use of social media and test the applicability of a social media metrics tool to determine influential users. METHODS: An online survey about social media use and practices based on the scientific literature was developed and implemented online with dietitians. Feasibility of a social media metrics analysis was conducted via Twitter using the NodeXL metrics tool to determine influential dietetic networks based on four measures of network centrality (betweenness, eigenvector, closeness and degree). RESULTS: The survey (n = 340) revealed social networking sites were the most widely used (by user) (n = 282) and micro-blogging was the most regularly used (by frequency of use). Among respondents who used social media in a professional capacity (n = 130), the greatest benefit was communicating internationally and remotely while the delivery of health care was of least benefit. The majority of respondents (87.3%) indicated their primary efforts were to maintain e-professionalism. Time restraints (18.6%) and not knowing where to start (18.6%) were common barriers to use. Highly influential connections between users were observed from network visualisations of dietitians in Australia and the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Professional use of social media among dietitians needs to be monitored over time for shifts of influential networks. Influential users from key networks can be identified from metrics analyses and should be engaged via professional bodies to upskill new users.

Pathogenic or health-promoting? How food is framed in healthy living media for women.

In this paper, I investigate the contribution of healthy living blogs to discourse about healthy eating, seeking to understand how blogs compare to mass-media magazine sources. This is done by comparatively analysing 459 healthy living blog posts and 141 health and fitness magazine articles. These were collected between 2011 and 2013 and provide rich data about what food content looks like in media designed for an audience of American women. I analyze how each source establishes the purpose of healthy eating and what foods are considered part of a healthy diet. While both sites are embedded in an overarching discourse of healthy eating, there are important contrasts between the frames used and ideologies they draw from. The magazines largely frame food as pathogenic, emphasizing food's connection to overweight/obesity, positioning particular foods ('scapegoat foods') as related to weight gain, and encouraging restriction of these foods. In contrast, the blogs predominantly frame food as "salutogenic" meaning that it is capable of promoting health and wellbeing. The blogs position food as a conduit for pleasure and an inclusive, varied diet is modelled. The pathogenic frame in the magazines reflects values inherent to hegemonic anti-obesity ideology while the salutogenic frame in blogs reflects a Health at Every Size® ideology. This paper argues that healthy living bloggers are able to broaden the range of mainstream healthy eating discourses, albeit without critiquing the moralization of health or thinness, because of their race, class and body privilege.

Blog como ferramenta educacional: contribuições para o processo interdisciplinar de educação em saúde / Blog as an educational tool: contributions to the interdisciplinary health education process / Blog como herramienta educativa: contribuciones para el proceso interdisciplinario de la educación para la salud

A sociedade tecnológica digital demanda sujeitos e saberes que cooperem mutuamente para resolver problemas complexos neste mundo de acesso quase imediato à informação. Nesse contexto, docentes e discentes do mestrado em Ensino na Saúde, de uma universidade pública, e do curso Técnico em Redes de Computadores, de um instituto federal, ambos cearenses, criaram o blog Saúde na Era Digital, objetivando educação em saúde para o público em geral. A interação virtual nele registrada foi submetida à análise de conteúdo e emergiram três eixos temáticos: uso equilibrado/apropriado das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC); benefícios dessas tecnologias para a saúde; e seus prejuízos. Especificam-se aspectos positivos da experiência: variados recursos educativos no blog; rompimento dos obstáculos tempo/espaço; ambiente cooperativo de aprendizagem virtual; blog para aprendizagem; e ganho comunitário de educação em saúde pela integração graduação-pós-graduação-docência. Registra-se também a dificuldade de alguns usuários no manuseio dessas TIC que, pela experiência, se recomendam para práticas educativas atuais, contextualizadas e interdisciplinares. (AU)

The technological and digital society requires people and knowledges together for mutual co-operation, so that to solve complex problems in a world where the access to information is nearly immediate. In this context, professors and students at a public university in the master's degree course called Ensino na Saúde (the learning about health), and others in the Técnico em Redes de Computadores (technical expert in computer networks) course at a federal institute, both in the state of Ceará, Brazil, published the blog Saúde na Era Digital (health in the digital era), aiming the health education for the general public. The interaction with visitors comments was submitted to the content analysis and three thematic axes emerged: balanced/appropriate use of information and communication technology (ICT); its benefits to health; and its damage. The positive aspects of the experience were specified: different educational resources used by the blog; overcoming obstacle of time-space; learning cooperative environment; blog for learning; and community gain in health education from the integration graduate-postgraduate-teaching. A difficulty of some people to handle these ICT was observed. ICT are recommended for current, contextualized and interdisciplinary educational practices. (AU)

La sociedad tecnológica y digital necesita personas y conocimientos cooperando entre sí para resolver problemas complejos en este mundo de acceso casi instantáneo a las informaciones. Así, profesores y estudiantes del curso de maestría Ensino na Saúde (enseñanza en salud), en una universidad pública, y del curso Técnico em Redes de Computadores (técnico en redes de computadoras), de un instituto federal, los dos en el estado de Ceará, Brasil, crearon el blog Saúde na Era Digital (salud en la era digital), con el objetivo de educación en salud dirigida al público general. La interacción virtual ha sido sometida al análisis de contenido y tres ejes temáticos surgieron: uso equilibrado/apropiado de tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC); sus beneficios a la salud; sus daños. Fueron especificados aspectos positivos de la experiencia: diversos recursos educativos en el blog; superación de las barreras tempo/espacio; ambiente de cooperación para aprendizaje virtual; blog para aprendizaje; y ganancia de la comunidad en educación en salud por medio de la integración graduación-postgrado-enseñanza. Algunos usuários tuvieron dificuldad en manejar las TIC. Ellas son recomendadas para prácticas educativas actuales, contextualizadas y interdisciplinarias. (AU)

Use of mobile applications and blogs by pregnant women in Turkey and the impact on adaptation to pregnancy.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to demonstrate how the use of mobile applications and blogs impacts on a woman's pregnancy. DESIGN: This was a descriptive study. A questionnaire and the Prenatal Self Evaluation Questionnaire (PSEQ) were administered to collect the data. The PSEQ was developed to evaluate a woman's adaptation to pregnancy before labour and contained seven subscales: acceptance of pregnancy, identification of a motherhood role, relationship with her mother, relationship with her husband, preparation for labour, prenatal fear of helplessness and loss of control in labour and concern for the well-being of self and baby. Lower scores indicated a greater level of adaptation to pregnancy. SETTINGS: Data were collected from gynaecology and obstetrics outpatient clinics in a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 230 women agreed to participate in the study. Women were included if they were literate, were 25-40 weeks pregnant, had experienced no complications during pregnancy and did not have a psychiatric illness or disorder. MEASUREMENT AND FINDINGS: A total of 43.1% of women reported using at least one mobile application during pregnancy, and 34.3% reported using at least one pregnancy-related blog. The mean total PSEQ score was 133 (mobile applications users' score: 129; blogs users' score: 130). There were no significant differences between those women using and those not using mobile applications in terms of the total PSEQ score; however, pregnant women using mobile applications had better adaptation levels to pregnancy in terms of their acceptance of pregnancy and relationship with her husband. No significant differences were found between those women using and those not using pregnancy blogs in terms of the total PSEQ score; however, pregnant women using blogs had better adaptation levels to pregnancy in terms of the relationship with her mother. KEY CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that the use of mobile applications and blogs is common among pregnant women. The use of mobile applications and blogs both enhance a woman's adaptation to pregnancy but in different ways. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: In accordance with these results, technology-based training materials (e.g. mobile applications, blogs etc.) should be developed and used in the health education and counselling of pregnant women.

Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) in Emergency Medicine: The Global Distribution of Users in 2016.

INTRODUCTION: Free open-access medical education (FOAM) is a collection of interactive online medical education resources-free and accessible to students, physicians and other learners. This novel approach to medical education has the potential to reach learners across the globe; however, the extent of its global uptake is unknown. METHODS: This descriptive report evaluates the 2016 web analytics data from a convenience sample of FOAM blogs and websites with a focus on emergency medicine (EM) and critical care. The number of times a site was accessed, or "sessions", was categorized by country of access, cross-referenced with World Bank data for population and income level, and then analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and geographic mapping. RESULTS: We analyzed 12 FOAM blogs published from six countries, with a total reported volume of approximately 18.7 million sessions worldwide in 2016. High-income countries accounted for 73.7% of population-weighted FOAM blog and website sessions in 2016, while upper-middle income countries, lower-middle income countries and low-income countries accounted for 17.5%, 8.5% and 0.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: FOAM, while largely used in high-income countries, is used in low- and middle-income countries as well. The potential to provide free, online training resources for EM in places where formal training is limited is significant and thus is prime for further investigation.

Experiences Of Individuals Concerning Combined Orthodontic and Orthognathic Surgical Treatment: A Qualitative Twitter Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this qualitative study was to analyze the content of posts on Twitter in order to gain an in-depth understanding of patients' thoughts and experiences surrounding orthognathic surgical treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the Twitter search function, with the keywords "jaw surgery," the 1,000 most recent posts on Twitter with relevance to a combined orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment were extracted. After applying relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria, the selected posts were analyzed using thematic analysis by 2 independent investigators. Distinct themes and subthemes were developed. RESULTS: A total of 689 posts were analyzed; the 3 main themes identified in relation to orthognathic surgery were preoperative engagement, postoperative difficulties, and posttreatment satisfaction. Twelve subthemes were also identified, expressing issues such as anticipation or apprehension of the surgical procedure, postoperative pain and edema, dietary restrictions and weight loss, paresthesia, depression, and satisfaction with improvements in appearance and self-confidence. The 6 terms most frequently used in tweets were "recovery," "braces," "swollen," "eat," "liquid diet," and "pain." CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the present study can increase the awareness of clinicians involved in the combined orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment of patients with dentofacial deformities, allowing them to better educate and counsel their patients throughout the entire treatment process.

Sorting Through the Safety Data Haystack: Using Machine Learning to Identify Individual Case Safety Reports in Social-Digital Media.

INTRODUCTION: There is increasing interest in social digital media (SDM) as a data source for pharmacovigilance activities; however, SDM is considered a low information content data source for safety data. Given that pharmacovigilance itself operates in a high-noise, lower-validity environment without objective 'gold standards' beyond process definitions, the introduction of large volumes of SDM into the pharmacovigilance workflow has the potential to exacerbate issues with limited manual resources to perform adverse event identification and processing. Recent advances in medical informatics have resulted in methods for developing programs which can assist human experts in the detection of valid individual case safety reports (ICSRs) within SDM. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we developed rule-based and machine learning (ML) models for classifying ICSRs from SDM and compared their performance with that of human pharmacovigilance experts. METHODS: We used a random sampling from a collection of 311,189 SDM posts that mentioned Roche products and brands in combination with common medical and scientific terms sourced from Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and a spectrum of news media blogs to develop and evaluate three iterations of an automated ICSR classifier. The ICSR classifier models consisted of sub-components to annotate the relevant ICSR elements and a component to make the final decision on the validity of the ICSR. Agreement with human pharmacovigilance experts was chosen as the preferred performance metric and was evaluated by calculating the Gwet AC1 statistic (gKappa). The best performing model was tested against the Roche global pharmacovigilance expert using a blind dataset and put through a time test of the full 311,189-post dataset. RESULTS: During this effort, the initial strict rule-based approach to ICSR classification resulted in a model with an accuracy of 65% and a gKappa of 46%. Adding an ML-based adverse event annotator improved the accuracy to 74% and gKappa to 60%. This was further improved by the addition of an additional ML ICSR detector. On a blind test set of 2500 posts, the final model demonstrated a gKappa of 78% and an accuracy of 83%. In the time test, it took the final model 48 h to complete a task that would have taken an estimated 44,000 h for human experts to perform. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that an effective and scalable solution to the challenge of ICSR detection in SDM includes a workflow using an automated ML classifier to identify likely ICSRs for further human SME review.

Microblog sentiment analysis using social and topic context.

Analyzing massive user-generated microblogs is very crucial in many fields, attracting many researchers to study. However, it is very challenging to process such noisy and short microblogs. Most prior works only use texts to identify sentiment polarity and assume that microblogs are independent and identically distributed, which ignore microblogs are networked data. Therefore, their performance is not usually satisfactory. Inspired by two sociological theories (sentimental consistency and emotional contagion), in this paper, we propose a new method combining social context and topic context to analyze microblog sentiment. In particular, different from previous work using direct user relations, we introduce structure similarity context into social contexts and propose a method to measure structure similarity. In addition, we also introduce topic context to model the semantic relations between microblogs. Social context and topic context are combined by the Laplacian matrix of the graph built by these contexts and Laplacian regularization are added into the microblog sentiment analysis model. Experimental results on two real Twitter datasets demonstrate that our proposed model can outperform baseline methods consistently and significantly.

Cancer Survivors' Experiences and Explanations of Postcancer Fatigue: An Analysis of Online Blogs.

BACKGROUND: Postcancer fatigue (PCF) is a form of chronic fatigue that is very common and can persist for years among disease-free cancer survivors. Despite this, PCF remains underreported and often goes untreated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore PCF from the perspective of cancer survivors via online blogs, with a focus on their experiences and personal explanations of PCF. METHODS: An online search identified 15 recent blogs written by cancer survivors who specifically discussed their PCF. Thematic analysis was used to analyze blog content. RESULTS: Bloggers explained PCF as a severe and unpredictable symptom in their lives. They identified anxiety, emotional trauma, and cancer side effects to be the key causal factors of their PCF. Coping strategies adopted by bloggers included diet, exercise, acceptance and reducing workload to manage their fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: Online blogs are a rich source of qualitative data that can give unique insight into issues faced by cancer survivors. Bloggers' accounts confirmed that PCF is a complex issue that can be a significant source of frustration in their everyday lives. This study highlighted that bloggers with PCF appear to have some coping strategies and understanding of PCF, yet these are not always consistent with current medical and psychological knowledge. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study has demonstrated that blogs can offer valuable information to existing knowledge of cancer survivors' experiences and explanations of PCF. The findings may assist healthcare professionals with educating patients about PCF and with increasing the legitimacy, awareness, and understanding of PCF.

Dental Blogs, Podcasts, and Associated Social Media: Descriptive Mapping and Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Studies of social media in both medicine and dentistry have largely focused on the value of social media for marketing to and communicating with patients and for clinical education. There is limited evidence of how dental clinicians contribute to and use social media to disseminate and access information relevant to clinical care. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to inventory and assess the entry, growth, sources, and content of clinically relevant social media in dentistry. METHODS: We developed an inventory of blogs, podcasts, videos, and associated social media disseminating clinical information to dentists. We assessed hosts' media activity in terms of their combinations of modalities, entry and exit dates, frequency of posting, types of content posted, and size of audience. RESULTS: Our study showed that clinically relevant information is posted by dentists and hygienists on social media. Clinically relevant information was provided in 89 blogs and podcasts, and topic analysis showed motives for blogging by host type: 55% (49 hosts) were practicing dentists or hygienists, followed by consultants (27 hosts, 30%), media including publishers and discussion board hosts (8 hosts, 9%), and professional organizations and corporations. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated the participation of and potential for practicing dentists and hygienists to use social media to share clinical and other information with practicing colleagues. There is a clear audience for these social media sites, suggesting a changing mode of information diffusion in dentistry. This study was a first effort to fill the gap in understanding the nature and potential role of social media in clinical dentistry.

Dying Is Unexpectedly Positive.

In people's imagination, dying seems dreadful; however, these perceptions may not reflect reality. In two studies, we compared the affective experience of people facing imminent death with that of people imagining imminent death. Study 1 revealed that blog posts of near-death patients with cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were more positive and less negative than the simulated blog posts of nonpatients-and also that the patients' blog posts became more positive as death neared. Study 2 revealed that the last words of death-row inmates were more positive and less negative than the simulated last words of noninmates-and also that these last words were less negative than poetry written by death-row inmates. Together, these results suggest that the experience of dying-even because of terminal illness or execution-may be more pleasant than one imagines.