HIV-related posts from a Chinese internet discussion forum: An exploratory study

Yuan Dong, Xin Zhou, Yi Lin, Qichao Pan and Ying Wang

PLOS ONE, 2019, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: Background: In China, the introduction of antiretroviral treatment has increased the number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). New technologies, such as social media, might be useful for enhancing HIV surveillance, especially given the lack of Chinese research, which is related to stigma and discrimination. Thus, the relative anonymity of social media may make it useful for evaluating “hard to reach” PLWHA. Setting: This study used social media data to assess whether it reflected the prevalence of HIV and to explore PLWHA’ needs and online habits. Methods: In 2017, the Baidu Tieba platform was searched to obtain 2,500 HIV-related postings and 2,500 tuberculosis-related postings as a comparative sample. Word clouds and coding schemes were used to analyze the contents and review the users’ needs and online habits. Negative binomial regression was used to evaluate the relationships between word cloud geolocations and provincial numbers of men who have sex with men (MSM) PLWHA cases, after controlling for socioeconomic status. Results: Word cloud geolocations were associated with reported MSM-PLWHA cases (p

Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0213066

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213066

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