Rubal Kanozia

This chapter showcases the creative use of social media by government and non-governmental organizations to mobilize the community during COVID-19 pandemic in India. The authors highlight how the social media was used to disseminate information, provide COVID-19 relief assistance, inspire appropriate social behaviors, and enhance community engagement through motivational campaigns in the face of vaccine hesitancy. Through a qualitative analysis of Indian news reports, viral posts among Indian social media users, and reflections among 15 Indian social media users, this study reveals how the use of social media created meanings guiding social mobilization to combat the COVID-19 crisis in spite of it being a major source of misinformation and disinformation. Overall, this chapter underscores the value of social media in engendering action through empowering individuals, organizations, and administrations to combat health crises through community-driven collaborative efforts.

Background and Objectives: “Successful aging” concerns the process of growing older while maintaining physical, cognitive, and social well-being, emphasizing independence for overall satisfaction and quality of life. We investigate the impact of eHealth literacy on reducing loneliness and sustaining well-being during the pandemic, comparing middle- and high-income countries. Research Design and Methods: Online surveys were conducted between April 4, 2020, and September 30, 2021, collecting responses (N = 2,091) from medium- and high-income countries in Europe, Asia, and North America. T-tests and ANOVAs were used to test how sociodemographic predictors were associated with differences in e-Health literacy, loneliness, and well-being. Results: Respondents from high-income countries reported significantly higher well-being scores than those from middle-income countries and respondents from high-income countries had significantly higher e-HEALS (e-Health literacy) scores compared to middle-income countries. No significant difference was observed in loneliness scores between high-income and middle-income country respondents. Well-being is associated with age, with younger adults (18–29 years) and those aged 40+ reporting higher levels. Higher education and income are linked to greater well-being. Gender differences are observed, with females and those with a partner reporting higher well-being. In middle-income countries, higher education levels are more linked to loneliness, while in higher-income countries, loneliness is observed across education levels. Discussion and Implications: Future interventions by governments and policymakers should consider intersectionality in e-Health planning and offer digital literacy and digital skills training to those with lower education levels.

BACKGROUND The identification and resolution of misinformation pertaining to prostate cancer is of paramount significance. The acquisition of precise and dependable information is of utmost importance for patients to make well-informed decisions regarding their healthcare and potential courses of treatment (Gigerenzer et al., 2007). Healthcare practitioners require dependable sources to deliver care based on empirical evidence and proficiently interact with their clientele. Addressing misinformation can lead to better patient outcomes, improved doctor-patient rapport, and optimized healthcare utilization in the management of prostate cancer (Wafi et al., 2018). OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of misinformation pertaining to prostate cancer, in regard to the quality and accuracy of online health information, patient perspectives and decision-making, prevention and diagnosis/screening, and treatment options. The study further elucidates the sources and dissemination mechanisms of such misinformation, analyzes the impact of misinformation on patients and healthcare professionals, and deliberates on the initiatives and interventions implemented to counteract misinformation(Lledo et al., 2021). Through the process of synthesizing the extant evidence, our aim is to furnish valuable insights and recommendations that can be applied to clinical practice, policy formulation, and future research endeavors in the domain of prostate cancer and misinformation (Li et al., 2022). METHODS The current literature review involved the analysis of 27 research studies conducted between the years 2004 and 2023. The present study employs a systematic literature review to conduct an in-depth analysis of misinformation in prostate cancer. This approach draws on previous research conducted in the field (Sharma et al., 2019). Jabbour (2013) asserts that the utilization of a systematic literature review (SLR) proves advantageous in the consolidation of findings from various studies pertaining to emerging topics, such as the dissemination of inaccurate information in the context of prostate cancer. Moreover, a systematic literature review (SLR) plays a crucial role in the process of identifying, selecting, and critically evaluating relevant research studies in order to address a well-defined research question (Dewey &Drahota, 2016). The study adhered to the PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews, which provide a comprehensive framework for outlining the study protocols of such reviews. In this study, researchers employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures to identify rigorous gaps. The analysis was conducted using both approaches, and the findings are presented accordingly. Ahmed and Matthes (2016) have provided a comprehensive framework for conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) using Thematic Analysis. In this study, we employ the same methodology to identify robust research gaps and thematic patterns, which will guide future research endeavors in this field. RESULTS The results of the study highlight a need for further research in Africa and Asia to contribute to the existing knowledge base. Misinformation pertaining to prostate cancer can be observed throughout different stages of the healthcare continuum, encompassing prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. The review has identified several prominent themes pertaining to the dissemination of misinformation in the context of prostate cancer. The themes were: Quality and Accuracy of Online Health Information; Patients’ Perspectives and Decision-making related to Prostate Cancer; Misinformation in Prevention, Diagnosis/Screening about Prostate Cancer; Misinformation about Prostate Cancer Treatment; Social Media & Prostate Cancer Misinformation. CONCLUSIONS This study emphasizes the significance of guiding patients toward reliable cancer resources and advocates for potential oversight by the medical and technology communities, given the prevalence of misleading or inaccurate information on prostate cancer shared on social media. The utilization of internet-based communication for self-education on disease processes is making social media a significant concern in the field of medicine. Patients are increasingly turning to the internet for supplemental information about their disease, indicating a shift away from physicians as the primary source of health information. Comprehending the origins and distribution of inaccurate information pertaining to prostate cancer facilitates the implementation of focused interventions and educational initiatives. Through targeted interventions aimed at the platforms, channels, and communities where misinformation proliferates, healthcare professionals, patient advocates, and policymakers can devise efficacious strategies to combat misinformation. The aforementioned tactics may comprise endeavors to verify factual accuracy, provision of educational materials, and partnerships with reliable entities to facilitate the dissemination of precise information and equip individuals with the ability to make knowledgeable choices concerning prostate cancer (Chan et al., 2021). By engaging in cooperative efforts, conducting ongoing investigations, and executing efficient tactics, healthcare professionals and institutions can exert significant influence in enhancing the quality and accuracy of online health-related data. This, in turn, can promote informed decision-making and yield superior outcomes in the management of prostate cancer (Pratsinis et al., 2021).

Machine learning based sentiment analysis is an interdisciplinary approach in opinion mining, particularly in the field of media and communication research. In spite of their different backgrounds, researchers have collaborated to test, train and again retest the machine learning approach to collect, analyse and withdraw a meaningful insight from large datasets. This research classifies the texts of micro-blog (tweets) into positive and negative responses about a particular phenomenon. The study also demonstrates the process of compilation of corpus for review of sentiments, cleaning the body of text to make it a meaningful text, find people’s emotions about it, and interpret the findings. Till date the public sentiment after abrogation of Article 370 has not been studied, which adds the novelty to this scientific study. This study includes the dataset collection from Twitter that comprises 66.7 % of positive tweets and 34.3 % of negative tweets of the people about the abrogation of Article 370. Experimental testing reveals that the proposed methodology is much more effective than the previously proposed methodology. This study focuses on comparison of unsupervised lexicon-based models (TextBlob, AFINN, Vader Sentiment) and supervised machine learning models (KNN, SVM, Random Forest and Naïve Bayes) for sentiment analysis. This is the first study with cyber public opinion over the abrogation of Article 370. Twitter data of more than 2 lakh tweets were collected by the authors. After cleaning, 29732 tweets were selected for analysis. As per the results among supervised learning, Random Forest performs the best, whereas among unsupervised learning TextBlob achieves the highest accuracy of 99 % and 88 %, respectively. Performance parameters of the proposed supervised machine learning models also surpass the result of the recent study performed in 2023 for sentiment analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought digital practices and engagement to the forefront of society, which were based on behavioral changes associated with adhering to different government mandates. Further behavioral changes included transitioning from working in the office to working from home, with the use of various social media and communication platforms to maintain a level of social connectedness, especially given that many people who were living in different types of communities, such as rural, urban, and city spaces, were socially isolated from friends, family members, and community groups. Although there is a growing body of research exploring how technology is being used by people, there is limited information and insight about the digital practices employed across different age cohorts living in different physical spaces and residing in different countries. Objective: This paper presents the findings from an international multisite study exploring the impact of social media and the internet on the health and well-being of individuals in different countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected via a series of online surveys deployed between April 4, 2020, and September 30, 2021. The age of respondents varied from 18 years to over 60 years across the 3 regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. On exploring the associations of technology use, social connectedness, and sociodemographic factors with loneliness and well-being through bivariate and multivariate analyses, significant differences were observed. Results: The levels of loneliness were higher among respondents who used social media messengers or many social media apps than among those who did not use social media messengers or used ≤1 social media app. Additionally, the levels of loneliness were higher among respondents who were not members of an online community support group than among those who were members of an online community support group. Psychological well-being was significantly lower and loneliness was significantly higher among people living in small towns and rural areas than among those living in suburban and urban communities. Younger respondents (18-29 years old), single adults, unemployed individuals, and those with lower levels of education were more likely to experience loneliness. Conclusions: From an international and interdisciplinary perspective, policymakers and stakeholders should extend and explore interventions targeting loneliness experienced by single young adults and further examine how this may vary across geographies. The study findings have implications across the fields of gerontechnology, health sciences, social sciences, media communication, computers, and information technology. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.3389/fsoc.2020.574811

According to the latest The Global Risks Report (2022) of World Economic Forum, the large-scale coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat creates various tensions that might lead to unexpected cascading impacts in various domains. Nevertheless, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, about 120 nm in diameter, remains invisible to people whose cognition, emotions, and health-related behaviors are driven primarily by the subjective perception of the virus. Mass media communicating information, symbols, beliefs, and codes of conduct to the population contribute widely to the socially constructed representations of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus. Thus, the aim of the current research is to investigate the impacts of the common COVID-19 mass media image of the “ball with spikes” representing the SARS-CoV-2 virus on older adults particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease and fake news dissemination. This research is based on an innovative mixed-methods research design that combines questionnaires (N = 144), semi-structured research interviews, and pictographic measures (N = 26). The primary results demonstrate that individuals’ perceptions of and emotional reactions to the invisible SARS-CoV-2 virus are shaped by mass media exposure, as the “ball with spikes” became a familiar symbol of the COVID-19 virus, marked by the symbolism of dangerousness and mystery with a divisive aesthetic. The current research that aims to highlight the role of mass media as the vector of an icon image of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus provides additional elements that may contribute to improved crisis management effectiveness of future pandemic outbreaks.

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic brought digital practices and engagement to the forefront of society, which were based on behavioral changes associated with adhering to different government mandates. Further behavioral changes included transitioning from working in the office to working from home, with the use of various social media and communication platforms to maintain a level of social connectedness, especially given that many people who were living in different types of communities, such as rural, urban, and city spaces, were socially isolated from friends, family members, and community groups. Although there is a growing body of research exploring how technology is being used by people, there is limited information and insight about the digital practices employed across different age cohorts living in different physical spaces and residing in different countries. OBJECTIVE This paper presents the findings from an international multisite study exploring the impact of social media and the internet on the health and well-being of individuals in different countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS Data were collected via a series of online surveys deployed between April 4, 2020, and September 30, 2021. The age of respondents varied from 18 years to over 60 years across the 3 regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. On exploring the associations of technology use, social connectedness, and sociodemographic factors with loneliness and well-being through bivariate and multivariate analyses, significant differences were observed. RESULTS The levels of loneliness were higher among respondents who used social media messengers or many social media apps than among those who did not use social media messengers or used ≤1 social media app. Additionally, the levels of loneliness were higher among respondents who were not members of an online community support group than among those who were members of an online community support group. Psychological well-being was significantly lower and loneliness was significantly higher among people living in small towns and rural areas than among those living in suburban and urban communities. Younger respondents (18-29 years old), single adults, unemployed individuals, and those with lower levels of education were more likely to experience loneliness. CONCLUSIONS From an international and interdisciplinary perspective, policymakers and stakeholders should extend and explore interventions targeting loneliness experienced by single young adults and further examine how this may vary across geographies. The study findings have implications across the fields of gerontechnology, health sciences, social sciences, media communication, computers, and information technology. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.3389/fsoc.2020.574811