Staying connected: Alzheimer's hashtags and opportunities for engagement and overcoming stigma

Trends and Gaps in Public Perception of Genetic Testing for Dementia Risk: Unsupervised Deep Learning of Twitter Posts From 2010 to 2023

BACKGROUND

Genetic testing for dementia has drawn public attention in recent years, albeit with concerns on its appropriate use. This study leveraged Twitter data to analyze public perceptions related to genetic testing for dementia.

METHODS

English tweets from January 1, 2010 to April 1, 2023, containing relevant terms, were extracted from Twitter API. A Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model was used with Named Entity Recognition (NER) to identify individual and organizational users. BERT-based topic modeling was applied to identify the themes for relevant source tweets. Topic coherence was assessed through manual inspection, complemented by the Silhouette Coefficient. Manual thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke's approach, refined the topics and themes.

RESULTS

The analysis of 3045 original/source tweets identified 9 topics (Silhouette Coefficient=0.19), categorized into 3 main themes: (1) opinions on the appropriateness of genetic testing in dementia diagnosis; (2) discussion on the psychosocial impact; (3) discussion on genetic testing's role in Alzheimer's disease treatment and prevention. Theme 1 comprised 90.6% of source tweets, demonstrating prevailing contentions. Tweets in theme 2 were increasingly contributed by organization users over time and included tweets containing misinformation about genetic testing in children. Tweets in theme 3 were increasingly contributed by individual users, possibly suggesting rising public interest in the treatment and prevention of dementia.

CONCLUSION

The study highlighted limited public understanding of the nondeterministic nature of genetic testing for dementia, with concerns about unsupervised direct-to-consumer genetic test marketing, emphasizing the need to counter misinformation and raise public awareness.

Discourse and Misconceptions About Sexually Transmitted Infections in Lesbian Subreddits: A Health Belief Model Analysis

Despite the increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among lesbians, sex education and health services are often heterosexual-focused, leading them to be misinformed about their personal risks. Considering the lack of adequate discussions in offline settings, online spaces allow stigmatized groups to connect, support, and share health information. This study examines how lesbians discuss STIs on Reddit through an analysis guided by the theoretical perspective of the health belief model. A total of 394 posts/comments containing STI-related keywords were observed across six subreddits: r/AskLesbians, r/actuallesbians, r/ActuallyLesbian, r/LesbianActually, r/latebloomerlesbians, and r/lesbian. Results show that users express low perceived susceptibility of STIs and suggest that protection is only necessary when penial intercourse is involved. Despite the belief that protection is effective at preventing STIs, dental dams are not often used due to their inconvenience and testing is an adequate replacement. Perceived barriers to engage in safer sexual practices further complicate users' sexual health decisions. We identify cases where the subreddits serve as cues for action as users actively encouraged others to use protection and get tested. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Embracing Endings: Unveiling the Connection Between Final Conversations, the Opportunity Model for Presence, and Coping With the Death of Our Parents

This study examines adult children's loss of a parent through final conversations and communal coping. By looking at survivors' experiences through the lens of the opportunity model for presence (OMP) during the end-of-life (EOL) process, a model that provides a path of engagement leading to a good or bad death and consequent bereavement processes, we quantitatively test the relationships between two communication constructs before and after death of a parent. While final conversations as one construct did not lead to appraisal or action coping, results illustrate that final conversation topics of identity, instrumental, love, and everyday talk, were significantly related to shared appraisal. Instrumental talk and love were significantly related to joint action. Joint action and shared appraisal together led to participants engaging in all three types of coping. Final conversations as a whole, was important for bereavement outcomes, whereas communal coping's role in these relationships was convoluted.

Survivors' perspectives on saying goodbye: Implications for end-of-life engagement across the lifespan and grieving process

Family members are often unaware of their loved ones' final wishes and underestimate the need to talk about them before parents reach end-of-life (EOL). The benefits of engaging in EOL conversations alleviate needless suffering and can allow an opportunity to say goodbye in a meaningful way. We examined final conversations 13 adults recalled having with their aging parents through the lens of the opportunity model for presence (OMP) during the EOL process, a communication process model based on engagement in the dying process from diagnosis through bereavement, to understand the process from the survivor's perspective, looking at content of conversations and where they occurred in the dying process. Findings illustrate final conversations that align with the socio-cultural space of the OMP before the knowledge that a parent was dying, and when entering imminent death engaging in the critical moments, have implications for the grief and bereavement.