Temporal Recall Strategies in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients' Emotionally Intense Life Events.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients often encounter psychological challenges due to chronic pain, fatigue, side effects of medications, and disability. This study examines the relationship between autobiographical narratives and recollection patterns in RA patients. We investigated how different recall strategies for positive life events affect the emotional processing of negative episodes. We hypothesized that vividly recalling positive life events provides psychological resources that support a more intense emotional elaboration of stressful memories, allowing individuals to delve deeper into negative life experiences. Additionally, we explored the impact of these perspectives on self-reported well-being and physical health, proposing that re-living positive events improves overall well-being. METHODS: We collected and analyzed high-point and low-point life-story episodes from 60 RA patients (85% female; age mean 61 ± 11 years; range 37-79) using episodic narrative interviews and the Narrative Categorical Content Analysis algorithm (NarrCat). Participants were categorized into 2 clusters based on their temporal perspective during high-point episodes: 25 used a Retrospective viewpoint, while 35 employed a Re-experiencing strategy. Depression and anxiety were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and functioning was measured using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). RESULTS: The Re-experiencing group, which was more likely to articulate their high-point episode in vivid and real-time narrative, used more psychological perspectives (U(58) = 223, p < 0.01) and showed heightened emotional frequency (U(58) = 280, p < 0.05; positive: U(58) = 328, p < 0.05; negative: U(58) = 278, p < 0.05) in low-point episodes. No significant difference emerged between the two groups regarding psychological state (anxiety, depressive symptoms) and physical impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Vividly recalling positive events may facilitate a deeper exploration of negative memories. The Re-experiencing group showed increased positive emotions during low points, suggesting better emotion regulation. However, no significant association was found between recalling strategies, psychological state, and physical impairment. This indicates that further research is needed to determine whether re-experiencing positive life events is adaptive or maladaptive.

How can social media analytics assist authorities in pandemic-related policy decisions? Insights from Australian states and territories.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Due to COVID-19, various countries introduced lockdowns and limited citizen movements. These restrictions triggered an increased use of digital technologies and platforms by the public. This provides an opportunity for the authorities to capture public perceptions on COVID-19 from social media channels to make informed decisions. The use of social media analytics during pandemics for decision-making, however, is an understudied area of research. Thus, this study aims to generate insights into how social media analytics can assist authorities in pandemic-related policy decisions. METHODS: This study involved a social media analysis approach-i.e., systematic geo-Twitter analysis-that contains descriptive, content, sentiment, and spatial analyses. Australian states and territories are selected as the case study context for the empirical investigation. This study collected 96,666 geotagged tweets (originated from Australia between 1 January and 4 May 2020), and analysed 35,969 of them after data cleaning. RESULTS: The findings disclose that: (a) Social media analytics is an efficient approach to capture the attitudes and perceptions of the public during a pandemic; (b) Crowdsourced social media data can guide interventions and decisions of the authorities during a pandemic, and; (c) Effective use of government social media channels can help the public to follow the introduced measures/restrictions. CONCLUSION: The findings are invaluable for authorities to understand community perceptions and identify communities in needs and demands in a pandemic situation, where authorities are not in a position to conduct direct and lengthily public consultations.