Bizzotto Nicole, Morlino Susanna, Schulz Peter Johannes
Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.
Department of Communication and Media, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 May 20;11(5):e35347. doi: 10.2196/35347.
Social media platforms are widely used by people suffering from mental illnesses to cope with their conditions. One modality of coping with these conditions is navigating online communities where people can receive emotional support and informational advice. Benefits have been documented in terms of impact on health outcomes. However, the pitfalls are still unknown, as not all content is necessarily helpful or correct. Furthermore, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and related problems, such as worsening mental health symptoms, the dissemination of conspiracy narratives, and medical distrust, may have impacted these online communities. The situation in Italy is of particular interest, being the first Western country to experience a nationwide lockdown. Particularly during this challenging time, the beneficial role of community moderators with professional mental health expertise needs to be investigated in terms of uncovering misleading information and regulating communities.
The aim of the proposed study is to investigate the potentially harmful content found in online communities for mental health symptoms in the Italian language. Besides descriptive information about the content that posts and comments address, this study aims to analyze the content from two viewpoints. The first one compares expert-led and peer-led communities, focusing on differences in misinformation. The second one unravels the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, not by merely investigating differences in topics but also by investigating the needs expressed by community members.
A codebook for the content analysis of Facebook communities has been developed, and a content analysis will be conducted on bundles of posts. Among 14 Facebook groups that were interested in participating in this study, two groups were selected for analysis: one was being moderated by a health professional (n=12,058 members) and one was led by peers (n=5598 members). Utterances from 3 consecutive calendar years will be studied by comparing the months from before the pandemic, the months during the height of the pandemic, and the months during the postpandemic phase (2019-2021). This method permits the identification of different types of misinformation and the context in which they emerge. Ethical approval was obtained by the Università della Svizzera italiana ethics committee.
The usability of the codebook was demonstrated with a pretest. Subsequently, 144 threads (1534 utterances) were coded by the two coders. Intercoder reliability was calculated on 293 units (19.10% of the total sample; Krippendorff α=.94, range .72-1). Aside from a few analyses comparing bundles, individual utterances will constitute the unit of analysis in most cases.
This content analysis will identify deleterious content found in online mental health support groups, the potential role of moderators in uncovering misleading information, and the impact of COVID-19 on the content.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/35347.
患有精神疾病的人广泛使用社交媒体平台来应对自身状况。应对这些状况的一种方式是在在线社区中交流，人们可以在那里获得情感支持和信息建议。已有文献记载了其对健康结果的益处。然而，其中的陷阱仍然未知，因为并非所有内容都一定有用或正确。此外，新冠疫情的出现以及相关问题，如心理健康症状恶化、阴谋论的传播和对医学的不信任，可能对这些在线社区产生了影响。意大利的情况尤其值得关注，因为它是第一个经历全国范围封锁的西方国家。特别是在这个充满挑战的时期，需要研究具有专业心理健康专业知识的社区管理员在揭露误导性信息和管理社区方面的有益作用。
本拟议研究的目的是调查意大利语在线社区中发现的与心理健康症状相关的潜在有害内容。除了关于帖子和评论所涉及内容的描述性信息外，本研究旨在从两个角度分析内容。第一个角度比较由专家主导和由同伴主导的社区，重点关注错误信息的差异。第二个角度揭示新冠疫情的影响，不仅通过调查主题差异，还通过调查社区成员表达的需求。
已开发出用于对脸书社区进行内容分析的编码手册，并将对帖子集进行内容分析。在14个有兴趣参与本研究的脸书群组中，选择了两个群组进行分析：一个由健康专业人员管理（n = 12,058名成员），一个由同伴主导（n = 5598名成员）。将通过比较疫情前、疫情高峰期和疫情后阶段（2019 - 2021年）的月份，研究连续3个日历年的言论。这种方法有助于识别不同类型的错误信息及其出现的背景。获得了意大利瑞士大学伦理委员会的伦理批准。
通过预测试证明了编码手册的可用性。随后，两名编码员对144个主题帖（1534条言论）进行了编码。对293个单元计算了编码员间信度（占总样本的19.10%；克里彭多夫α系数 = 0.94，范围为0.72 - 1）。除了一些比较帖子集的分析外，在大多数情况下，单个言论将构成分析单元。
本内容分析将识别在线心理健康支持群组中发现的有害内容、管理员在揭露误导性信息方面的潜在作用以及新冠疫情对内容的影响。
国际注册报告识别码（IRRID）：PRR1 - 10.2196/35347。
