Misinformation surrounding sodium reduction for blood pressure: content analysis of Japanese posts on X.

This content analysis aimed to assess misinformation themes regarding sodium reduction and blood pressure on X with the goal of providing strategies to address and debunk such misinformation. A total of 531 posts were manually coded into sodium-related misinformation themes, with inclusion criteria for posts asserting no association between sodium reduction and hypertension or claiming consuming sodium is beneficial for health. Numbers and post frequencies per misinformation theme were calculated. Post characteristics, including information sources, advertisements and narratives, were coded, and a correlation analysis was conducted to assess their association with each misinformation theme. Fourteen sodium-related misinformation themes were identified and consistently disseminated on X. The predominant theme, 'Natural Salt', accounted for 37.7% (n = 200), reaching 1.6 million followers, followed by 'Reducing salt could be bad for my health' theme, comprising 28.6% (n = 152) and reaching 1.5 million followers. There was a statistical correlation between the natural salt misinformation theme and advertisements. Many of the most frequent misinformation themes identified in this study have not been systematically debunked by organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association. This study underscores the importance of continuous monitoring and analysis of sodium-related misinformation on social media platforms and their underlying commercial interests. Such monitoring has the potential to identify prevalent misinformation themes that may pose harm to the public and to inform public health organizations, enabling them to proactively address potential issues through debunking.

Experiences of Governments and Public Health Agencies Regarding Crisis Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Digital Age: Protocol for a Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.

BACKGROUND: Governments and public health agencies worldwide experienced difficulties with social media-mediated infodemics on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing public health crisis communication strategies need to be updated. However, crisis communication experiences of governments and public health agencies worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been systematically compiled, necessitating updated crisis communication strategies. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to collect and organize the crisis communication experiences of senders (ie, governments and public health agencies) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our focus is on exploring the difficulties that governments and public health agencies experienced, best practices in crisis communication by governments and public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic in times of infodemic, and challenges that should be overcome in future public health crises. METHODS: We plan to begin the literature search on May 1, 2024. We will search PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Communication Abstracts, and Web of Science. We will filter our database searches to search from the year 2020 and beyond. We will use a combination of keywords by referring to the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) tool to search the abstracts in databases. We intend to include qualitative studies on crisis communication by governments and public health agencies (eg, officials, staff, health professionals, and researchers) to the public. Quantitative data-based studies will be excluded. Only papers written in English will be included. Data on study characteristics, study aim, participant characteristics, methodology, theoretical framework, object of crisis communication, and key results will be extracted. The methodological quality of eligible studies will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for qualitative research. A total of 2 independent reviewers will share responsibility for screening publications, data extraction, and quality assessment. Disagreement will be resolved through discussion, and the third reviewer will be consulted, if necessary. The findings will be summarized in a table and a conceptual diagram and synthesized in a descriptive and narrative review. RESULTS: The results will be systematically integrated and presented in a way that corresponds to our research objectives and interests. We expect the results of this review to be submitted for publication by the end of 2024. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this will be the first systematic review of the experiences of governments and public health agencies regarding their crisis communication to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review will contribute to the future improvement of the guidelines for crisis communication by governments and public health agencies to the public. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42024528975; https://tinyurl.com/4fjmd8te. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/58040.

Nutrients and Foods Recommended for Blood Pressure Control on Twitter in Japan: Content Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Management and prevention of hypertension are important public health issues. Healthy dietary habits are one of the modifiable factors. As Twitter (subsequently rebranded X) is a digital platform that can influence public eating behavior, there is a knowledge gap regarding the information about foods and nutrients recommended for blood pressure control and who disseminates them on Twitter. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the nature of the information people are exposed to on Twitter regarding nutrients and foods for blood pressure control. METHODS: A total of 147,898 Japanese tweets were extracted from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The final sample of 2347 tweets with at least 1 retweet was manually coded into categories of food groups, nutrients, user characteristics, and themes. The number and percentage of tweets, retweets, and themes in each category were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 2347 tweets, 80% (n=1877) of tweets mentioned foods, which were categorized into 17 different food groups. Seasonings and spices, including salt, were most frequently mentioned (1356/1877, 72.2%). This was followed by vegetable and fruit groups. The 15 kinds of nutrients were mentioned in 1566 tweets, with sodium being the largest proportion at 83.1% (n=1301), followed by potassium at 8.4% (n=132). There was misinformation regarding salt intake for hypertension, accounting for 40.8% (n=531) of tweets referring to salt, including recommendations for salt intake to lower blood pressure. In total, 75% (n=21) of tweets from "doctors" mentioned salt reduction is effective for hypertension control, while 31.1% (n=74) of tweets from "health, losing weight, and beauty-related users," 25.9% (n=429) of tweets from "general public," and 23.5% (n=4) tweets from "dietitian or registered dietitian" denied salt reduction for hypertension. The antisalt reduction tweets accounted for 31.5% (n=106) of the most disseminated tweets related to nutrients and foods for blood pressure control. CONCLUSIONS: The large number of tweets in this study indicates a high interest in nutrients and foods for blood pressure control. Misinformation asserting antisalt reduction was posted primarily by the general public and self-proclaimed health experts. The number of tweets from nutritionists, registered dietitians, and doctors who were expected to correct misinformation and promote salt reduction was relatively low, and their messages were not always positive toward salt reduction. There is a need for communication strategies to combat misinformation, promote correct information on salt reduction, and train health care professionals to effectively communicate evidence-based information on this topic.

Public perception of the resumption of HPV vaccine recommendation in Japan: Twitter content analysis.

On 12 November 2021, after a stagnation of 8.5 years, Japan decided to resume proactive recommendations for HPV vaccines. However, it is not known how the public reacted to the resumption of proactive recommendations for HPV vaccines, which are key elements in health communication that promote HPV vaccination. This study aimed to capture discussions on HPV vaccination on Twitter and to identify user characteristics, sentiments, discussed themes and their potential reach before and after 12 November 2021, when the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare's decision to resume proactive recommendation for HPV vaccines was first reported by the media in Japan. This study conducted a content analysis of tweets related to HPV vaccines posted on 11 November and 12 November 2021. Tweets were coded in terms of user characteristics, sentiments (i.e. positive, negative and neutral) and themes. Reach was measured by the number of retweets, likes and followers. A total of 3623 tweets were identified. The results showed that approximately 50% of health professionals and researchers tweeted neutral content about HPV vaccines. The most frequently discussed theme was the safety and side effects of HPV vaccines, which was accompanied by mainly negative sentiments. Although health professionals and researchers are influential on Twitter, half of them tweeted neutrally about HPV vaccines. Influential professionals, such as health professionals and researchers, are expected to disseminate accurate information to correct misinformation and recommend HPV vaccination on Twitter to overcome the HPV vaccination crisis, which is characterized by the low vaccination rates.

Age, gender and socioeconomic disparities in human papillomavirus (HPV) awareness and knowledge among Japanese adults after a 7-year suspension of proactive recommendation for the HPV vaccine: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey.

The Japanese government's 2013 suspension of its proactive recommendation for Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination resulted in low HPV vaccination coverage and was unique. However, data on awareness and knowledge of HPV vaccines in the general population was limited. Here, to investigate more recent awareness and knowledge of HPV vaccines by age, gender, and socioeconomic status, we used data from the INFORM Study 2020, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of self-administered questionnaires with 1,998 Japanese individuals aged 20 to 59 years. We found that 47.5% of females and 21.0% of males had heard of HPV, and 33.6% of females and 16.8% of males had knowledge of HPV vaccine efficacy. After adjusting for potential confounders, females aged 50-54 years were more likely to be aware of HPV than females aged 20-24 (AOR, 2.02, 95%CI: 1.12-3.65). Females (AOR, 2.13, 95%CI: 1.48-3.07) and males (AOR, 1.64, 95%CI: 1.03-2.59) with higher education had more awareness than those with less education. Females with higher education had more knowledge about HPV vaccine efficacy than those with less education (AOR, 1.70; 95%CI: 1.16-2.50). We found a generally low level of awareness and knowledge about HPV vaccines in Japan, which might be attributable to the suspension of proactive recommendations. Additionally, we identified disparities in awareness and knowledge by age, gender, socioeconomic status, and health literacy. Enhancing HPV awareness and understanding of HPV vaccines and implementing targeted efforts for specific subpopulations within Japan after the resumption of proactive recommendation for HPV vaccines, are imperative.

Anticipated Affect That Encourages or Discourages Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: A Scoping Review.

We reviewed studies that examined the anticipated affects associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to identify gaps in the literature and the currently available practice implications for encouraging HPV vaccination. We systematically searched MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Academic Search Complete, Scopus, and Web of Science to find English articles that quantitatively and qualitatively examined anticipated affects associated with HPV vaccination. A total of twenty-one studies were identified. Seventeen studies examined the anticipated inaction regret (i.e., not being vaccinated). Most of the included studies reported that anticipated inaction regret had a significantly positive association with HPV vaccination outcomes, such as vaccination behavior, intention, willingness, and acceptability. Furthermore, seven studies reported that anticipated inaction regret had a significantly positive and stronger association with vaccination outcomes than cognitive beliefs, such as vaccine effectiveness and safety, and perceived susceptibility and severity. The present review indicated that the stronger the participants' anticipated inaction regret, the more likely they were to receive the HPV vaccine. Messages targeting the anticipated affect may be as effective as or more effective than messages targeting cognitive beliefs in encouraging HPV vaccination among people. However, most of the studies included in the present review adopted a cross-sectional design with vaccination intention and willingness as outcomes. Therefore, future studies should examine the influence of anticipated affects on the utilization of HPV vaccines using experimental designs to accumulate stronger evidence.

Print Materials to Promote Physical Activities in Japan: Content Analysis from a Goal Theory.

Physical activity has significant health benefits for the heart, body, and mind. However, the percentage of people engaging in exercise routines is low in Japan. Goals are important components of motivation. Scholars suggest that appropriately setting both subordinate goals of what to do and superordinate goals of why to do it may motivate the audience and promote behavior. However, it is not known what goals are presented in print materials that promote physical activity. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the presented goals by performing content analysis of those materials in Japan. We collected print materials such as leaflets, brochures, and posters via website search. The presence of subordinate and superordinate goals and topics for each goal was analyzed. A total of 224 print materials were systematically collected and analyzed. The results showed that 14.3% of the print materials did not present any superordinate goals, whereas 100% of them presented subordinate goals. For superordinate goals, healthy aging was frequently presented. For subordinate goals, 67.4% presented only exercise. There is a difference in presenting goals between the private and government sectors. Since goals affect motivation and behavior change, it may be beneficial to incorporate the findings of the goal theory in future print materials.

Perceptions of Self of Persons with Visible Artificial Devices : A Review of the Literature.

Not much is known about the self-perceptions of persons using prosthetic devices. The purpose of the literature review was to explore the self-perceptions of persons living with visible artificial devices from published articles between 2010 and 2017. Using key words to search for published literature in the PubMed,CINAHL, IEEE Proceedings, and Scopus indices showed 680 articles. Braun and Clarke's six phases of qualitative thematic analysis were used on 25 articles meeting the inclusion criteria, revealing 29 data extracts (themes) as data summaries. Three key thematic categories were revealed : Body image and ownership, integration of prosthetic device into the self-body, and suspended enjoyment or delight, reflecting the longings for completeness affecting persons' use of prosthetic devices. Consistent with self-perceptions understood through social biases and customs, completeness is achieved through the happy paradox of a person made whole through artificial devices. This experience informs nursing practice in helping people find meaning in their life. Further research into selfperceptions with prosthetic devices is essential, particularly those reflecting the cultural influences of artificial devices on quality of life. J.Med.Invest. 66:58-64, February, 2019.