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. 2021 Feb 3;23(2):e26254.
doi: 10.2196/26254.

Using Twitter to Understand the COVID-19 Experiences of People With Dementia: Infodemiology Study

Juanita-Dawne Bacsu  1 , Megan E O'Connell  1 , Allison Cammer  2 , Mahsa Azizi  3 , Karl Grewal  1 , Lisa Poole  4 , Shoshana Green  1 , Saskia Sivananthan  5 , Raymond J Spiteri  3
Affiliations

Using Twitter to Understand the COVID-19 Experiences of People With Dementia: Infodemiology Study

Juanita-Dawne Bacsu et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people with dementia in numerous ways. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research on the COVID-19 impact on people with dementia and their care partners.

Objective: Using Twitter, the purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of COVID-19 for people with dementia and their care partners.

Methods: We collected tweets on COVID-19 and dementia using the GetOldTweets application in Python from February 15 to September 7, 2020. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the tweets.

Results: From the 5063 tweets analyzed with line-by-line coding, we identified 4 main themes including (1) separation and loss; (2) COVID-19 confusion, despair, and abandonment; (3) stress and exhaustion exacerbation; and (4) unpaid sacrifices by formal care providers.

Conclusions: There is an imminent need for governments to rethink using a one-size-fits-all response to COVID-19 policy and use a collaborative approach to support people with dementia. Collaboration and more evidence-informed research are essential to reducing COVID-19 mortality and improving the quality of life for people with dementia and their care partners.

Keywords: COVID-19; Twitter; collaborate; dementia; disorder; experience; health policy; quality of life; social media; support; theme.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

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