ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
Understanding Patient Anxieties in the Social Media Era: Qualitative Analysis and Natural Language Processing of an Online Male Infertility Community.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health care experiences of individuals accessing or undergoingFrontiers in reproductive health · 2025Pooled it
- Fertility care in the age of algorithms: opportunities and risks of AI and social media integration in reproductive medicine.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2026Review
- Using Social Media Data to Assess the Impact of Infertility on French Patients' Quality of Life: Retrospective Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Analyzing the Contents of a Large, Public Online Peer Support Forum for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Thematic Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- The development of an online-based rural community of practice framework for addressing health issues among rural citizens: a grounded theory approach.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Artificial Intelligence Augmented Qualitative Analysis: The Way of the Future?Qualitative health research · 2024Article
- Reporting of Ethical Considerations in Qualitative Research Utilizing Social Media Data on Public Health Care: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- "I don't wanna die, but my brain insists that I should": a big qualitative data approach to the lived experiences of suicidal thoughts.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Is Reddit a reliable source for information on erectile dysfunction treatment?International journal of impotence research · 2023Article
- Identifying Targets for Innovation in Amazon Reviews of Bedwetting Alarms: Thematic Analysis.Interactive journal of medical research · 2023Article
- Methods for Analyzing the Contents of Social Media for Health Care: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Exploring Chronic Pain and Pain Management Perspectives: Qualitative Pilot Analysis of Web-Based Health Community Posts.JMIR infodemiology · 2023Article
- Psychosis Relapse Prediction Leveraging Electronic Health Records Data and Natural Language Processing Enrichment Methods.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- A Pipeline to Understand Emerging Illness Via Social Media Data Analysis: Case Study on Breast Implant Illness.JMIR medical informatics · 2021Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patient Preferences and Decision Making for Symptomatic Urolithiasis.Journal of endourology · 2021Article
- Low Testosterone on Social Media: Application of Natural Language Processing to Understand Patients' Perceptions of Hypogonadism and Its Treatment.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- YouTube Video Comments on Healthy Eating: Descriptive and Predictive Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2020Article
- Online Japanese-Language Information on Lifestyle Factors Associated With Reduced Fertility: Content Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- The Etiology of Infertility Affects Fertility Quality of Life of Males Undergoing Fertility Workup and Treatment.American journal of men's healthArticle
- Patient and Caregiver Perception of Adenoidectomies: A Non-Real-World Social Media Analysis.OTO openArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCouples struggling with infertility are increasingly turning to the internet for infertility-related content and to connect with others. Most of the published data on infertility and the internet only address the experiences of women, with limited studies focusing exclusively on internet discussions on male factor infertility.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to understand the concerns and experiences of discussants on an online male infertility community and to provide insight into their perceptions of interactions with health care professionals.
methodsUsing the large-scale data analytics tool BigQuery, we extracted all posts in the r/MaleInfertility community (877 members) of the social media website and discussion board Reddit from November 2017 to October 2018. We performed a qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative semantic analysis using Language Inquiry and Word Count 2015 of the extracted posts to identify dominant themes and subthemes of discussions. Descriptive statistics and semantic analytic Z-scores were computed.
resultsFrom the analysis of 97 posts, notable themes and subthemes emerged: 70 (72%) posts shared personal experiences, including feeling emasculated or isolated or describing a negative (28/97, 29%), positive (13/97, 13%), or neutral (56/97, 58%) experience with a health care professional; 19% (18/97) of the posts posed questions about personal semen analysis results. On the basis of semantic analysis, posts by men had higher authenticity scores (Z=3.44; P<.001), suggesting more honest or personal texts, but lower clout scores (Z=4.57; P<.001), suggesting a more tentative or anxious style of writing, compared with posts by women.
conclusionsTo our knowledge, this study represents the first evaluation of a social media community focused exclusively on male infertility using mixed methodology. These results suggest a role for physicians on social media to engage with patients and connect them to accurate resources, in addition to opportunities to improve in-office patient education.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.