Applying Systematic Review Methodologies to the Analysis of Data Available on Social Media Sites: An Exploratory Study into How the Topic of Gestational Diabetes Is Discussed on Twitter
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Abstract
Background: The use of social media for health related activities is widely accepted to be on the increase. There is limited guidance, however, on how to systematically review the data available on social media sites in the context of health. Although systematic reviews are becoming increasing important in public health research, there are currently no known examples of its application to the data available on social media sites.
Objective: To evaluate whether the widely applied PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews, can be repurposed and applied to the data available on Twitter. This will be achieved through conducting an exploratory study to assess the relevance of gestational diabetes-related postings to the clinical condition of gestational diabetes and the topics and intensions represented in these messages.
Methods: This paper applies the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews to the identification, screening, selection and synthesis of diabetes related tweets that were posted in September 2013. This data was extracted between May and November 2013, from a 1% Twitter sample. The sample was analyzed in a three-stage process. Firstly, the search term “diabetes” was used and tweets were screened and selected based on predefined inclusion criteria. Recurrent topics were then identified using mixed-methods of synthesis. Finally, these themes were then applied to the gestational diabetes specific tweets. Based on the experience gained from conducting the exploratory study into gestational diabetes, the PRISMA guidelines were later reviewed to determine their applicability and limitations when applied to the data available on social media sites.
Results: The first stage of the process identified 2888 tweets that referred to diabetes. These data were screened for their relevance to health and 1870 were selected for further analyses. This in turn identified 23 conceptual codes across 4 categories; characteristics of the tweet, content of the tweet, stakeholder group for which the tweet is relevant and intention of the tweet. The final stage indicated that gestational diabetes was only referred to in 31 tweets and these only related to 12 of the identified themes.
Conclusions: Given the limited number of conceptual codes that were present in the data sample, initial findings from the exploratory study suggest that Twitter is not the social media site of choice for authors to post or consume content in relation to the clinical condition of gestational diabetes. The experience gained from applying the PRISMA guidelines concludes that although the data available on social media sites is primary data, rather than secondary data in traditional systematic reviews, many of the requirements can be repurposed and applied to qualitative health data available on social media sites. It is hoped that this study will provide initial guidance on how to systematically review the content of social media sites as well as facilitate further discussion and research into how social media sites are used to discuss different health related topics.
Objective: To evaluate whether the widely applied PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews, can be repurposed and applied to the data available on Twitter. This will be achieved through conducting an exploratory study to assess the relevance of gestational diabetes-related postings to the clinical condition of gestational diabetes and the topics and intensions represented in these messages.
Methods: This paper applies the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews to the identification, screening, selection and synthesis of diabetes related tweets that were posted in September 2013. This data was extracted between May and November 2013, from a 1% Twitter sample. The sample was analyzed in a three-stage process. Firstly, the search term “diabetes” was used and tweets were screened and selected based on predefined inclusion criteria. Recurrent topics were then identified using mixed-methods of synthesis. Finally, these themes were then applied to the gestational diabetes specific tweets. Based on the experience gained from conducting the exploratory study into gestational diabetes, the PRISMA guidelines were later reviewed to determine their applicability and limitations when applied to the data available on social media sites.
Results: The first stage of the process identified 2888 tweets that referred to diabetes. These data were screened for their relevance to health and 1870 were selected for further analyses. This in turn identified 23 conceptual codes across 4 categories; characteristics of the tweet, content of the tweet, stakeholder group for which the tweet is relevant and intention of the tweet. The final stage indicated that gestational diabetes was only referred to in 31 tweets and these only related to 12 of the identified themes.
Conclusions: Given the limited number of conceptual codes that were present in the data sample, initial findings from the exploratory study suggest that Twitter is not the social media site of choice for authors to post or consume content in relation to the clinical condition of gestational diabetes. The experience gained from applying the PRISMA guidelines concludes that although the data available on social media sites is primary data, rather than secondary data in traditional systematic reviews, many of the requirements can be repurposed and applied to qualitative health data available on social media sites. It is hoped that this study will provide initial guidance on how to systematically review the content of social media sites as well as facilitate further discussion and research into how social media sites are used to discuss different health related topics.
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