IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i1p142-d62462.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Online Dissemination of Nature–Health Concepts: Lessons from Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Relating to “Nature-Deficit Disorder”

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Palomino

    (School of Computing and Digital Media, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland AB10 7GE, UK
    Research started while working for the University of Exeter Medical School.)

  • Tim Taylor

    (European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, Cornwall TR1 3HD, UK)

  • Ayse Göker

    (School of Computing and Digital Media, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland AB10 7GE, UK)

  • John Isaacs

    (School of Computing and Digital Media, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland AB10 7GE, UK)

  • Sara Warber

    (European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, Cornwall TR1 3HD, UK
    Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1213, USA)

Abstract

Evidence continues to grow supporting the idea that restorative environments, green exercise, and nature-based activities positively impact human health. Nature-deficit disorder , a journalistic term proposed to describe the ill effects of people’s alienation from nature, is not yet formally recognized as a medical diagnosis. However, over the past decade, the phrase has been enthusiastically taken up by some segments of the lay public. Social media, such as Twitter , with its opportunities to gather “big data” related to public opinions, offers a medium for exploring the discourse and dissemination around nature-deficit disorder and other nature–health concepts. In this paper, we report our experience of collecting more than 175,000 tweets, applying sentiment analysis to measure positive, neutral or negative feelings, and preliminarily mapping the impact on dissemination. Sentiment analysis is currently used to investigate the repercussions of events in social networks, scrutinize opinions about products and services, and understand various aspects of the communication in Web-based communities. Based on a comparison of nature-deficit-disorder “hashtags” and more generic nature hashtags, we make recommendations for the better dissemination of public health messages through changes to the framing of messages. We show the potential of Twitter to aid in better understanding the impact of the natural environment on human health and wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Palomino & Tim Taylor & Ayse Göker & John Isaacs & Sara Warber, 2016. "The Online Dissemination of Nature–Health Concepts: Lessons from Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Relating to “Nature-Deficit Disorder”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:142-:d:62462
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/142/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/142/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katherine N. Irvine & Sara L. Warber & Patrick Devine-Wright & Kevin J. Gaston, 2013. "Understanding Urban Green Space as a Health Resource: A Qualitative Comparison of Visit Motivation and Derived Effects among Park Users in Sheffield, UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Lister, C. & Royne, M. & Payne, H.E. & Cannon, B. & Hanson, C. & Barnes, M., 2015. "The laugh model: Reframing and rebranding public health through social media," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(11), pages 2245-2251.
    3. King, Dominic & Ramirez-Cano, Daniel & Greaves, Felix & Vlaev, Ivo & Beales, Steve & Darzi, Ara, 2013. "Twitter and the health reforms in the English National Health Service," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 291-297.
    4. Hyekyung Woo & Youngtae Cho & Eunyoung Shim & Kihwang Lee & Gilyoung Song, 2015. "Public Trauma after the Sewol Ferry Disaster: The Role of Social Media in Understanding the Public Mood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-10, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa & Pablo Sánchez-Núñez & José Ignacio Peláez, 2020. "Sentiment Analysis and Emotion Understanding during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain and Its Impact on Digital Ecosystems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Donghua Chen & Runtong Zhang & Kecheng Liu & Lei Hou, 2018. "Knowledge Discovery from Posts in Online Health Communities Using Unified Medical Language System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Ana Reyes-Menendez & José Ramón Saura & Cesar Alvarez-Alonso, 2018. "Understanding #WorldEnvironmentDay User Opinions in Twitter: A Topic-Based Sentiment Analysis Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Tie Hua Zhou & Gong Liang Hu & Ling Wang, 2019. "Psychological Disorder Identifying Method Based on Emotion Perception over Social Networks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Xiaodong Cao & Piers MacNaughton & Zhengyi Deng & Jie Yin & Xi Zhang & Joseph G. Allen, 2018. "Using Twitter to Better Understand the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Public Sentiment: A Case Study in Massachusetts, USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Laia Subirats & Natalia Reguera & Antonio Miguel Bañón & Beni Gómez-Zúñiga & Julià Minguillón & Manuel Armayones, 2018. "Mining Facebook Data of People with Rare Diseases: A Content-Based and Temporal Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michelle Symons & Carmem Meira Cunha & Karolien Poels & Heidi Vandebosch & Nathalie Dens & Clara Alida Cutello, 2021. "Physical Activity during the First Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating the Reliance on Digital Technologies, Perceived Benefits, Barriers and the Impact of Affect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Hanna Weimann & Jonas Björk & Carita Håkansson, 2019. "Experiences of the Urban Green Local Environment as a Factor for Well-Being among Adults: An Exploratory Qualitative Study in Southern Sweden," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Bornmann, Lutz, 2014. "Do altmetrics point to the broader impact of research? An overview of benefits and disadvantages of altmetrics," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 895-903.
    4. Afiq Izzudin A. Rahim & Mohd Ismail Ibrahim & Faizul Nizam A. Salim & Mohd Ariff Ikram Ariffin, 2019. "Health Information Engagement Factors in Malaysia: A Content Analysis of Facebook Use by the Ministry of Health in 2016 and 2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Jonathan P. Reeves & Conor H. D. John & Kevin A. Wood & Phoebe R. Maund, 2021. "A Qualitative Analysis of UK Wetland Visitor Centres as a Health Resource," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-25, August.
    6. Haifeng Li & Wenbo Chen & Wei He, 2015. "Planning of Green Space Ecological Network in Urban Areas: An Example of Nanchang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, October.
    7. Xiaodong Cao & Piers MacNaughton & Zhengyi Deng & Jie Yin & Xi Zhang & Joseph G. Allen, 2018. "Using Twitter to Better Understand the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Public Sentiment: A Case Study in Massachusetts, USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Argyro Anna Kanelli & Margarita Kokkinaki & Marios-Dimitrios Sinvare & Chrisovalantis Malesios & Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos & Olga-Ioanna Kalantzi, 2023. "Keep Calm and Go Out: Urban Nature Exposure, Mental Health, and Perceived Value during the COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, May.
    9. Lucy E. Keniger & Kevin J. Gaston & Katherine N. Irvine & Richard A. Fuller, 2013. "What are the Benefits of Interacting with Nature?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Katherine N. Irvine & Daniel Fisher & Melissa R. Marselle & Margaret Currie & Kathryn Colley & Sara L. Warber, 2022. "Social Isolation in Older Adults: A Qualitative Study on the Social Dimensions of Group Outdoor Health Walks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-26, April.
    11. Elizabeth W. Holt & Quinn K. Lombard & Noelle Best & Sara Smiley-Smith & John E. Quinn, 2019. "Active and Passive Use of Green Space, Health, and Well-Being amongst University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-13, February.
    12. Man Yuan & Haolan Pan & Zhuoran Shan & Da Feng, 2022. "Spatial Differences in the Effect of Communities’ Built Environment on Residents’ Health: A Case Study in Wuhan, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-18, January.
    13. Galati, Antonino & Coticchio, Alessandro & Peiró-Signes, Ángel, 2023. "Identifying the factors affecting citizens' willingness to participate in urban forest governance: Evidence from the municipality of Palermo, Italy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Gyula Kothencz & Ronald Kolcsár & Pablo Cabrera-Barona & Péter Szilassi, 2017. "Urban Green Space Perception and Its Contribution to Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, July.
    15. Weiwei Liu & Wenqing Xu & Monica (Shu-Fen) Wu, 2022. "The Effect of Tourist-to-Tourist Interaction on Life Satisfaction: A Mediation Role of Social Connectedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Benati, Giulia & Calcagni, Fulvia & Matellozzo, Federico & Ghermandi, Andrea & Langemeyer, Johannes, 2024. "Unequal access to cultural ecosystem services of green spaces within the city of Rome – A spatial social media-based analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Joana M. Barros & Ruth Melia & Kady Francis & John Bogue & Mary O’Sullivan & Karen Young & Rebecca A. Bernert & Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann & Jim Duggan, 2019. "The Validity of Google Trends Search Volumes for Behavioral Forecasting of National Suicide Rates in Ireland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, September.
    18. Elliott P. Flowers & Paul Freeman & Valerie F. Gladwell, 2017. "The Development of Three Questionnaires to Assess Beliefs about Green Exercise," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, October.
    19. Paola Cerchiello & Paolo Giudici, 2014. "How to measure the quality of financial tweets," DEM Working Papers Series 069, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    20. Nisar, Sobia & Shafiq, Muhammad, 2019. "Framework for efficient utilisation of social media in Pakistan's healthcare sector," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 31-43.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:142-:d:62462. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.