Abstract

This study employed Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT), Health Belief Model (HBM) and a mix of techniques to highlight the important role of social media in health communication. A total of 602 comments posted by YouTube users as they interacted with news items reporting on Chagas disease were thus analysed. A web-based software called Netlytic was used to capture and conduct text analytics. The sentiment of user comments on each of the five videos selected for this analysis was measured using SentiStrength. This study, therefore, achieved four objectives. First, it determined the most engaging comments amongst YouTube users as they interacted with Chagas disease news information. Second, it identified the most common issues or concerns discussed by YouTube users. Third, it analyzed the extent to which YouTube users commenting about Chagas disease conveyed information related to (a) prevention benefits, (b) barriers, (c) susceptibility to Chagas disease, (d) severity of Chagas and (e) self-efficacy as part of the Health Belief Model. And finally, it measured the levels of positive and negative sentiment in the comments made by YouTube users. Study findings, limitations, and implications for future research have been discussed as well.

摘要

这项研究采用了使用和满足理论（UGT），健康信念模型（HBM）以及多种技术组合，以突出社交媒体在健康交流中的重要作用。因此，分析了YouTube用户在与报道恰加斯病的新闻互动时发布的602条评论。一个基于网络的名为Netlytic的软件用于捕获和执行文本分析。使用SentiStrength测量了针对此分析选择的五个视频中每个视频的用户评论情绪。因此，这项研究实现了四个目标。首先，它确定了YouTube用户与恰加斯病新闻信息互动时最吸引人的评论。其次，它确定了YouTube用户讨论的最常见问题。第三，它分析了YouTube用户评论恰加斯病的程度，传达了与（a）预防益处，（b）障碍，（c）对恰加斯病的易感性，（d）恰加斯病的严重程度和（e）自我效能有关的信息健康信念模型。最后，它衡量了YouTube用户评论中正面和负面情绪的水平。还讨论了研究结果，局限性以及对未来研究的影响。