ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus 2019 revolutionized the way of living and the communication of people making social media a popular tool to express concerns and perceptions. Starting from this context we built an original database based on the Twitter users' emotions shown in the early weeks of the pandemic in Italy. Specifically, using a single index we measured the feelings of four groups of stakeholders (journalists, people, doctors, and politicians), in three groups of Italian regions (0,1,2), grouped according to the impact of the COVID-19 crises as defined by the Conte Government Ministerial Decree (8th March 2020). We then applied B-VAR techniques to analyze the sentiment relationships between the groups of stakeholders in every Region Groups. Results show a high influence of doctors at the beginning of the epidemic in the Group that includes most of Italian regions (Group 0), and in Lombardy that has been the region of Italy hit the most by the pandemic (Group 2). Our outcomes suggest that, given the role played by stakeholders and the COVID-19 magnitude, health policy interventions based on communication strategies may be used as best practices to develop regional mitigation plans for the containment and contrast of epidemiological emergencies.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected healthcare organizations, leading to the need for reorganizing also maternal care services during pregnancy. The Regional Health Authorities in Tuscany (Italy) promoted the creation of online antenatal classes (ACs). This study illustrates the innovative approach to deliver ACs online and discusses how the collaborative approach in co-producing this innovative solution co-creates value in healthcare. The action research design was based, on one hand, on the indirect involvement of users by analyzing qualitative data collected through a continuous survey to pregnant women and, on the other one, on the direct involvement of managers and health professionals in meetings and workshops. The authors encompassed all necessary changes in organizational practices and facilitated the collaborative process implementation and analysis. The main findings are that moving ACs online has been a relevant choice, since the need of pregnant women to share information and receive emotional support increased in times of crisis. Additionally, in the perspective of health professionals, the new online ACs model emerged as a valuable solution not only for the contingent situation, but also in a long-term perspective to reach more women during pregnancy and to early support them throughout the maternal care pathway. This study shows that the collaborative approach to co-innovate healthcare services provision, such as with ACs online, facilitates the creation of, long-lasting, and integrated solutions in healthcare, to be used also after pandemic period. Finally, despite this action-research is context-specific, the findings presented in this paper may help other healthcare organizations innovate their own strategies in ACs’ provision.