Nursing Department, Steyer School of Health Professions, Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Tel Aviv University Center for AI and Data Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Aug 13;26:e50009. doi: 10.2196/50009.
Heart failure (HF) is a significant global clinical and public health challenge, impacting 64.3 million individuals worldwide. To address the scarcity of donor organs, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation has become a crucial intervention for managing end-stage HF, serving as a bridge to heart transplantation or as a destination therapy. Web-based health forums, such as MyLVAD.com, play a vital role as trusted sources of information for individuals with HF symptoms and their caregivers.
We aim to uncover the latent topics within the posts shared by users on the MyLVAD.com website.
Using the latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm and a visualization tool, our objective was to uncover latent topics within the posts shared on the MyLVAD.com website. Through the application of topic modeling techniques, we analyzed 459 posts authored by recipients of LVAD and their family members from 2015 to 2023.
This study unveiled 5 prominent themes of concern among patients with LVAD and their family members. These themes included family support (39.5% weight value), encompassing subthemes such as family caregiving roles and emotional or practical support; clothing (23.9% weight value), with subthemes related to comfort, normalcy, and functionality; infection (18.2% weight value), covering driveline infections, prevention, and care; power (12% weight value), involving challenges associated with power dependency; and self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management (6.3% weight value), which included subthemes such as blood tests, monitoring, alarms, and device management.
These findings contribute to a better understanding of the experiences and needs of patients implanted with LVAD, providing valuable insights for health care professionals to offer tailored support and care. By using latent Dirichlet allocation to analyze posts from the MyLVAD.com forum, this study sheds light on key topics discussed by users, facilitating improved patient care and enhanced patient-provider communication.
心力衰竭（HF）是一个重大的全球临床和公共卫生挑战，影响全球 6430 万人。为了解决供体器官短缺的问题，左心室辅助装置（LVAD）的植入已成为治疗终末期 HF 的重要干预手段，可作为心脏移植的桥梁，或作为终末期治疗。MyLVAD.com 等基于网络的健康论坛是 HF 症状患者及其护理人员的重要信息来源。
我们旨在揭示 MyLVAD.com 网站用户帖子中隐含的主题。
我们使用潜在狄利克雷分配算法和可视化工具，旨在揭示 MyLVAD.com 网站上发布的帖子中隐含的主题。通过应用主题建模技术，我们分析了 2015 年至 2023 年间，459 名 LVAD 接受者及其家属发布的帖子。
这项研究揭示了 LVAD 接受者及其家属关注的 5 个主要问题。这些问题包括家庭支持（39.5%权重值），包含家庭护理角色和情感或实际支持等子主题；服装（23.9%权重值），涉及舒适性、正常性和功能性等子主题；感染（18.2%权重值），涵盖了线路感染、预防和护理；电力（12%权重值），涉及与电力依赖相关的挑战；自我护理维护、监测和管理（6.3%权重值），包括血液检查、监测、警报和设备管理等子主题。
这些发现有助于更好地了解植入 LVAD 的患者的体验和需求，为医疗保健专业人员提供有价值的见解，以提供个性化的支持和护理。通过使用潜在狄利克雷分配来分析 MyLVAD.com 论坛的帖子，本研究揭示了用户讨论的关键主题，促进了患者护理的改善和患者与提供者之间的沟通。
