ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate use and misuse of the word 'schizophrenia' and its derivatives to assess the prevalence of stigmatizing and trivializing attitudes and the meanings attributed to the condition on Turkish Twitter. METHODS: Using R programming language, we collected Turkish Twitter posts containing the terms used for schizophrenia in Turkish through Twitter's Search API over a 47-day period between July and June 2019. After removing retweets, we randomly sampled 3000 tweets and manually categorized them in three dimensions: use type (metaphorical/non-metaphorical), topic and attitude. Qualitative analysis on representative tweets were performed and word frequencies were calculated. RESULTS: In total 44,266 tweets were collected and after removing retweets, 24,529 tweets were obtained. Overwhelming majority of the tweets (91.7%) used the terms metaphorically and the majority displayed stigmatizing (68.3%) and trivializing (23%) attitudes. Politics was the most common topic (58.2%) followed by everyday/social chatter (28.5%). Only a small number of tweets were part of awareness campaigns (0.2%) or displayed a supportive attitude (0.8%). Terms were often used metaphorically in a stigmatizing manner as personal or political insults, while in everyday/social contexts, they were used in a trivializing manner to label eccentricity, oddness, overthinking and suspiciousness. Popularity and reach metrics show that these tweets were extensively retweeted, liked and reached millions of users. CONCLUSION: This is the first study investigating attitudes towards schizophrenia on Turkish Twitter. Significantly higher rates of stigmatizing attitudes demonstrate the urgent need for public health and social awareness campaigns targeting stigma surrounding schizophrenia in Turkey.
Subject(s)
Schizophrenia , Social Media , Humans , Social Stigma , Stereotyping , TurkeyABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the changes in ophthalmologists' working conditions and mental health status in Turkey during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and reveal the relevant individual and workplace-related factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional, nationwide, the survey-based study collected data between June and September 2020. Demographic characteristics, working conditions, precautionary measures in the workplace, and participants' Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) ratings were investigated. RESULTS: This study included 360 actively working ophthalmologists. While 64% of them worked in the pandemic hospitals, 44% were actively involved in COVID-related departments. Among those, 56 (35%) declared that they had all personal protective equipment in sufficient quantity in their COVID department. Despite the restrictions, 32% reported continuing to see 25 to 50 patients per day in ophthalmology clinics, with the most common complaint being the ocular "itching and burning" sensation. 53% stated that they did not perform any surgeries. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and insomnia were present in 65%, 56.9%, and 43% and 46.9% of participants, respectively. All DASS-21 subscales and ISI scores were found to be significantly higher during the pandemic. Female gender, older age, and lower satisfaction levels of hygiene conditions in COVID clinics were independent predictors of higher DASS-21 subscale scores in multivariate analysis. Being a resident was a major predictor of depression. Ophthalmologists working in a pandemic hospital were more likely to experience insomnia. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists have actively worked in COVID departments during the pandemic. Increased psychological distress among ophthalmologists compared to the pre-pandemic period is caused by personal factors and many determinants related to the workplace and practice patterns. Therefore, decreasing the transmission risk by creating a protective workplace and developing psychological support policies should be considered to minimize adverse psychological effects.
