Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government
Veterans Benefits and Health Care About VA Find a VA Location

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Analysis of Caregiver Burden Expressed in Social Media Discussions.

Shoults CC, Rutherford MW, Kemp AS, Addicott MA, Brown A, Greene CJ, Hayes CJ, Gan JM, Larson-Prior LJ, Bona JP. Analysis of Caregiver Burden Expressed in Social Media Discussions. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2023 Jan 20; 20(3).

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions


Abstract:

Almost 40% of US adults provide informal caregiving, yet research gaps remain around what burdens affect informal caregivers. This study uses a novel social media site, Reddit, to mine and better understand what online communities focus on as their caregiving burdens. These forums were accessed using an application programming interface, a machine learning classifier was developed to remove low information posts, and topic modeling was applied to the corpus. An expert panel summarized the forums' themes into ten categories. The largest theme extracted from Reddit's forums discussed the personal emotional toll of being a caregiver. This was followed by logistic issues while caregiving and caring for parents who have cancer. Smaller themes included approaches to end-of-life care, physical equipment needs when caregiving, and the use of wearables or technology to help monitor care recipients. The platform often discusses caregiving for parents which may reflect the age of Reddit's users. This study confirms that Reddit forums are used for caregivers to discuss the burdens associated with their role and the types of stress that can result from informal caregiving.




Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.