West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 13;18(3):e0282855. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282855. eCollection 2023.
The objective of this study is to investigate, from a longitudinal perspective, how WHO communicated COVID-19 related information to the public through its press conferences during the first two years of the pandemic.
The transcripts of 195 WHO COVID-19 press conferences held between January 22, 2020 and February 23, 2022 were collected. All transcripts were syntactically parsed to extract highly frequent noun chunks that were potential topics of the press conferences. First-order autoregression models were fit to identify "hot" and "cold" topics. In addition, sentiments and emotions expressed in the transcripts were analyzed using lexicon-based sentiment/emotion analyses. Mann-Kendall tests were performed to capture the possible trends of sentiments and emotions over time.
First, eleven "hot" topics were identified. These topics were pertinent to anti-pandemic measures, disease surveillance and development, and vaccine-related issues. Second, no significant trend was captured in sentiments. Last, significant downward trends were found in anticipation, surprise, anger, disgust, and fear. However, no significant trends were found in joy, trust, and sadness.
This retrospective study provided new empirical evidence on how WHO communicated issues pertaining to COVID-19 to the general public through its press conferences. With the help of the study, members of the general public, health organizations, and other stake-holders will be able to better understand the way in which WHO has responded to various critical events during the first two years of the pandemic.
本研究旨在从纵向角度探讨世卫组织在大流行的头两年通过其新闻发布会向公众通报 COVID-19 相关信息的情况。
收集了 2020 年 1 月 22 日至 2022 年 2 月 23 日期间举行的 195 次世卫组织 COVID-19 新闻发布会的记录。对所有记录进行句法分析，以提取可能是新闻发布会主题的高频名词组块。然后拟合一阶自回归模型以识别“热门”和“冷门”话题。此外，还使用基于词汇的情感分析来分析记录中表达的情感和情绪。进行曼恩-肯德尔检验以捕捉情感和情绪随时间的可能趋势。
首先，确定了 11 个“热门”话题。这些话题与抗疫措施、疾病监测与发展以及疫苗相关问题有关。其次，在情绪方面没有发现明显的趋势。最后，在预期、惊讶、愤怒、厌恶和恐惧方面发现了显著的下降趋势。然而，在喜悦、信任和悲伤方面没有发现明显的趋势。
这项回顾性研究提供了新的经验证据，说明世卫组织如何通过其新闻发布会向公众通报与 COVID-19 相关的问题。借助该研究，公众成员、卫生组织和其他利益相关者将能够更好地了解世卫组织在大流行头两年对各种重大事件的反应方式。
