Health Blogs Research Articles

Variation in Health Blog Features and Elements by Gender, Occupation, and Perspective

This study explores whether there are gender and occupational differences in the health blogosphere and whether there are differences by blogger perspective. Data were derived from content analysis of 951 health blogs identified between June 2007 and May 2008. Results indicate that male, physician bloggers were more likely to have blogs that feature a SiteMeter, sponsorship, and advertising, which also were more prevalent among those blogging from a professional perspective. Women, bloggers in non–health-related employment, and patient/consumer and caregiver bloggers were more likely to blog about disease and disability; men, bloggers in health-related employment, and professional bloggers were more likely to blog about provider experiences, health research/news, and health policy, business, law, and technology. Because the Internet is becoming a primary source of health information, establishing normative guidelines regarding information quality, patient privacy, and conflicts of interest is essential. Future research should build on these findings using national surveys of health bloggers and textual analysis of blog content.

Newspapers Use More Sources Compared to Health Blogs in H1N1/Swine Flu Coverage

The H1N1/swine pandemic that caused worldwide illness and could potentially affect thousands of Americans was unarguably the top health story for the year 2009. It was first referred to as swine flu and then officially named H1N1 flu.1 Originating in Mexico, H1N1/swine was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009.2 Soon after, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it health emergency of international concern.3Traditional media have been playing an important role in providing information for people to make health decisions during pandemics like H1N1/swine flu.4 With the tremendous growth of the Internet, online media such as blogs have also become important sources providing up-to-date coverage of public health issues. This study examined the coverage of the H1N1/swine pandemic in U.S. newspapers and blogs in 2009 and compared the differences in terms of frames, sources and news cues.Literature ReviewNews frames provide the ground rules for an issue in the media.5 Researchers have studied how newspapers frame epidemics. Examining how The New York Times framed three health epidemics (mad cow disease, West Nile virus and avian flu), researchers found that two frames were employed consistently across the diseases: the action frame, which emphasized the preventative action against the disease and the consequence frame that focused on the consequences of the diseases (victims, cost, social impact, etc.).6 Comparing newspaper coverage of SARS in China and the United States, several frames were identified, including economic consequences, attribution of responsibility, conflict, human interest and severity.7 Not only newspapers but also blogs are considered as a communication medium and form of journalism.8 Blogs can be used as vital tool for communication during crisis.9 In framing study of science and technology blogs, conflict frames were repeatedly found.10 However, there was limited number of framing analyses on blogs, especially those focusing on public health issues.Besides frames, source and cues are important elements of news coverage.11 Sources, those who are quoted in articles and those who supply background information or contribute to the stories in other ways, are believed to influence media content in tremendous and often subtle ways.12 News cues are important because specific word choices are powerful descriptors that can shape the public's understanding of certain issues.Research QuestionsRQ1:How does framing differ between newspaper and blog coverage of H1N1/swine flu?RQ1a:What frames appear most frequently in newspaper/blog coverage?RQ1b:What is the most frequent dominant frame in newspaper stories/blog posts?RQ2:How do mentions of individual news cues, swine flu and H1N1, differ between newspaper and blog coverage of H1N1/swine flu?RQ3:How do sources differ between newspaper and blog coverage of H1N1/swine flu?RQ4:How frequently are preventative activities suggested to individuals in newspapers and blogs?MethodA content analysis of eight national newspapers13 and eight health expert blogs14 published from April 14, 2009, to Oct. 15, 2009,15 was conducted. The LexisNexis database was used for the search of qualified newspaper stories16 by the keywords swine flu and H1N1. Qualified blog posts17 were collected directly from each blog's online domain. The final sample included 220 stories (110 newspaper articles and 110 blog posts).18VariablesThe major variable for this study was news frames. Seven frames19 were identified based on previous studies of framing on influenza.20 In order to provide more in-depth analysis, researchers coded both the frame(s) that appear in each news article/blog post and the frame appearing as the dominant frame. The frame(s) that appeared in story were coded, then one leading frame that appeared most frequently in the story as the dominant frame was identified. …

Variation in Health Blog Features and Elements by Gender, Occupation, and Perspective

This study explores whether there are gender and occupational differences in the health blogosphere, and whether there are differences by blogger perspective. Data derive from content analysis of 951 health blogs identified between June 2007 and May 2008. Results indicate that male, physician bloggers were more likely to have blogs that feature a SiteMeter, sponsorship and advertising, which also were more prevalent among those blogging from a professional perspective. Females, those in non-health-related employment, and patient/consumer and caregiver bloggers were more likely to blog about disease and disability, males, the health employed, and professional bloggers about provider experiences, health research/news, and health policy, business, law, and technology. Since the Internet is becoming a primary source of health information, establishing normative guidelines regarding information quality, patient privacy, and conflicts of interest is essential. Future research should build on these findings using national surveys of health bloggers and textual analysis of blog content.

Diagnosis blog: checking up on health blogs in the blogosphere.

We analyzed the content and characteristics of influential health blogs and bloggers to provide a more thorough understanding of the health blogosphere than was previously available. We identified, through a purposive-snowball approach, 951 health blogs in 2007 and 2008. All blogs were US focused and updated regularly. We described their features, topics, perspectives, and blogger demographics. Approximately half of the bloggers in our sample were employed in the health field. A majority were female, aged in their 30s, and highly educated. Two thirds posted at least weekly; one quarter accepted advertisements. Most blogs were established after 2004. They typically focused on bloggers' experiences with 1 disease or condition or on the personal experiences of health professionals. Half were written from a professional perspective, one third from a patient-consumer perspective, and a few from the perspective of an unpaid caregiver. Data collected from health blogs could be aggregated for large-scale empirical investigations. Future research should assess the quality of the information posted and identify what blog features and elements best reflect adherence to prevailing norms of conduct.

Health and Medical Blog Content and Its Relationships With Blogger Credentials and Blog Host

People may utilize various sources when searching for health information, including blogs. This study sought to describe the nature of non–personal journal health and medical blog posts and the frequency of interactive blog feature use within these blogs, as well as to understand the quality of content found within health and medical blogs as determined by blogger expertise and blog host. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 398 blog posts from a constructed 1-week sample of posts in WebMD, Yahoo!Health Expert Blogs, and independently hosted blogs. Results show most health and medical blog posts highlighted and provided commentary pertaining to medical issues found in external media such as books, television, Web sites, magazines, and newspapers, whereas only 16% contained actual health or medical information. In addition, distinct differences in patterns of content were evident between credentialed and noncredentialed bloggers, as well as different blog hosts.

Conflicts of interest, authorship, and disclosures in industry-related scientific publications: the tort bar and editorial oversight of medical journals.

Conflicts of interest, authorship, and disclosures in industry-related scientific publications: the tort bar and editorial oversight of medical journals.

A Virtuous Cycle to Improve Hypertension Outcomes at a National Level

Compared with the seemingly orderly approach to science associated with controlled laboratory environments, the assessment of broad changes in clinical practices and their impact on society is maddeningly complex and difficult to ascertain with confidence. Yet, in the end, the favorable regard of most societies toward public funding of biomedical science hinges on the belief that the end product of such research will benefit human health. This critical societal trust has been eroded by a growing skepticism directed toward the biomedical research enterprise and its associated industries, particularly the pharmaceutical industry. In this issue of Hypertension , Campbell et al1 report on their analysis of the impact of a program to improve the treatment of hypertension across Canada, one that has corresponded with increased use of antihypertensive medications and reduced incidence of death, stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. The authors took advantage of the confluence of a major change in guideline recommendations, concerted national efforts linking professional societies and public health to control hypertension, and excellent sources of public data. These data allowed them to track prescriptions written by Canadian physicians and to correlate them with rates of key events (death and major cardiovascular and neurologic events) in the overall population. Using the powerful statistical technique of time series analysis, they demonstrated that rates of these critical events declined in direct proportion to the increase in prescription of antihypertensive medications, beginning in 1999. Taken at face value, this study provides compelling evidence that broad changes in medical care, when supported by convincing evidence from clinical trials, can result in improvements in death and disability for populations at the national level. Skeptics will …

Weblogs, social software, and new interactivity on the web.

Weblogs, social software, and new interactivity on the web.

14-3-3: Modulators of Signaling Proteins?

Objectives TRanslating Emergency Knowledge for Kids (TREKK) and Cochrane Child Health collaborate to develop knowledge products on paediatric emergency medicine topics. Via a targeted social media promotion, we aimed to increase user interaction with the TREKK and Cochrane Child Health Twitter accounts and the uptake of TREKK Bottom Line Recommendations (BLRs) and Cochrane systematic reviews (SRs). Design Quantitative descriptive evaluation. Setting We undertook this study and collected data via the internet. Participants Our target users included online healthcare providers and health consumers. Intervention For 16 weeks, we used Twitter accounts (@TREKKca and @Cochrane_Child) and the Cochrane Child Health blog to promote 6 TREKK BLRs and 16 related Cochrane SRs. We published 1 blog post and 98 image-based tweets per week. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was user interaction with @TREKKca and @Cochrane_Child. Secondary outcomes were visits to TREKK’s website and the Cochrane Child Health blog, clicks to and views of the TREKK BLRs, and Altmetric scores and downloads of Cochrane SRs. Results Followers to @TREKKca and @Cochrane_Child increased by 24% and 15%, respectively. Monthly users of TREKK’s website increased by 29%. Clicks to the TREKK BLRs increased by 22%. The BLRs accrued 59% more views compared with the baseline period. The 16 blog posts accrued 28% more views compared with the 8 previous months when no new posts were published. The Altmetric scores for the Cochrane SRs increased by ≥10 points each. The mean number of full text downloads for the promotion period was higher for nine and lower for seven SRs compared with the 16-week average for the previous year (mean difference (SD), +4.0 (22.0%)). Conclusions There was increased traffic to TREKK knowledge products and Cochrane SRs during the social media promotion. Quantitative evidence supports blogging and tweeting as dissemination strategies for evidence-based knowledge products.