RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic. High morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 have been observed among older adults and widely reported in both mainstream and social media. The objective of this study was to analyze tweets related to COVID-19 and older adults, and to identify ageist content. DESIGN: We obtained a representative sample of original tweets containing the keywords "elderly," "older," and/or "boomer" plus the hashtags "#COVID19" and/or "#coronavirus." SETTING: Tweets posted between March 12 and March 21, 2020. MEASUREMENTS: We identified the type of user and number of followers for each account. Tweets were classified by three raters as (1) informative, (2) personal accounts, (3) personal opinions, (4) advice seeking, (5) jokes, and (6) miscellaneous. Potentially offensive content, as well as that downplaying the severity of COVID-19 because it mostly affects older adults, was identified. RESULTS: A total of 18,128 tweets were obtained, of which a random sample of 351 was analyzed. Most accounts (91.7%) belonged to individuals. The most common types of tweets were personal opinions (31.9%), followed by informative tweets (29.6%), jokes/ridicule (14.3%), and personal accounts (13.4%). Overall, 72 tweets (21.9%) likely intended to ridicule or offend someone and 21.1% had content implying that the life of older adults was less valuable or downplayed the relevance of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Most tweets related to COVID-19 and older adults contained personal opinions, personal accounts, and jokes. Almost one-quarter of analyzed tweets had ageist or potentially offensive content toward older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1661-1665, 2020.
Assuntos
Etarismo/tendências , Betacoronavirus , Infecções por Coronavirus/psicologia , Pneumonia Viral/psicologia , Mídias Sociais/tendências , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , COVID-19 , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pandemias , SARS-CoV-2RESUMO
RESUMEN Hoy en día la cantidad de médicos y profesionales de salud que utilizan las redes sociales como vehículos principales para la comunicación está en aumento. Las redes sociales ofrecen nuevas formas de conec tarse, facilitan la comunicación casi instantánea sin límites geográficos y sirven de apoyo a estudiantes, médicos y profesionales de salud. Las redes sociales pueden permitir que las mujeres en el campo de la salud obtengan apoyo que de otro modo no tendrían. Este artículo describe el rol de las redes sociales para contribuir al empoderamiento de las mujeres en medicina y discute las oportunidades de utilizar las redes sociales como herramienta para acceder a mentoría y consejeros experimentados como modelos a seguir; el apoyo e interacción entre pares; y el acceso a información y educación continua.
ABSTRACT Today, the number of doctors and health professionals who use social networks as main venues for com munication is increasing. Social networks offer new ways to connect and can facilitate almost instanta neous communication without geographical boundaries and can support students, doctors and health professionals. Social networks can allow women in the health field to obtain support that they would not otherwise have. This article describes the role of social networks in contributing to the empowerment of women in medicine and discusses the opportunities to use social networks as a tool for: access to mento ring and experienced counselors as role models; peer support and interaction; and access to information and continuing education.