Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2002. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 97 p.; also contains graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Ming-Daw Tsai, Dept. of Chemistry. Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-97).

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Introduction: H1N1 flu (swine flu) first emerged in mid-April 2009, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was a lead U.S. federal agency responding to the disease, the first pandemic in more than 40 years. Aim: The purpose of this program evaluation is to assess CDC’s Web-based outreach for the first part of the H1N1 flu pandemic (April to July 2009). Evaluation focuses on the seven CDC Web sites used for H1N1 flu outreach: H1N1 Flu (English and Spanish), CDC.gov, CDC en Español, CDC Partners, CDC Seasonal Flu, and MMWR. Methods: The evaluation assessed Web use and users through data collected by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and specific Web statistics gathered through Omniture SiteCatalyst. Discussion: People have been using the internet to collect health information since the early days of popular usage. During the early H1N1 flu emergency, CDC used seven different Web sites to reach out to its users, who are primarily public health professionals, healthcare providers and consumers. Most users cite one of four reasons for visiting CDC’s Web sites: health information for my work, health information for myself, health information for patient or client, and health information for someone else. Between April and July, a clear majority of users visited the Web site for H1N1 flu information (from a high of 58% in May to a low of 35% in July). CDC.gov has received ACSI satisfaction scores of 80 (considered a top performer) or higher since the first quarter of 2007; the overall site satisfaction score of 82 during the first quarter of 2009 was bested by the H1N1-specific satisfaction score of 84 from mid-April to the end of June. Traffic to the site increased enormously during the early H1N1 flu emergency, from approximately 45 million page views per month in February and March 2009 to more than 98.2 million page views in April 2009. Recommendations: Those working on CDC.gov H1N1 flu-related content should continue trying to anticipate and meet user needs by expanding Web content, partnering with external organizations to share key information through syndication and information placement, and enhancing translation capabilities.

The purpose of this thesis was to identify causes of disparities in affliction (infection) and mortality for minority populations (Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives) during the Swine Flu (H1N1) and COVID-19 (Sars-Cov-2) Pandemics. A literature review was conducted gathering peer-reviewed journal articles related to racial and socioeconomic disparities in affliction and mortality during both pandemics. The model of Blumenshine et al. (2008) was used as a guide for the analysis of this thesis, and measures of exposure, susceptibility, and treatment were hypothesized as causes for the disparities experienced by the minority populations during the two pandemics. Ultimately, it was established that the causes of the disparities noted were found to be differences in social determinants of health experienced by minority populations including poverty, education, occupation, and housing location. Differences in each of these social determinants of health then led to disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and treatment. All of these disparities combined together caused disproportionate affliction and mortality for minority populations during both pandemics. Organizing disparities in terms of social determinants of health and identifying possible explanations for disparities is important for future pandemic planning, and the model of Blumenshine et al. (2008) is a structured way to hypothesize certain causes of disparities during a pandemic based on social determinants of health. Emphasis needs to be placed on developing a pandemic vulnerability index based on the measures hypothesized so that future pandemic planning can direct resources to those most vulnerable.

<p>Purpose: The purpose with this study is to analyze if the Swedish authorities and media had different ways of discussing the new influenza, in connection with the pandemic classification June 11, 2009. This is the first time an influenza has been classified as a pandemic since the Hongkong-influenza in1968. Methodology: The method used for the study is discourse analysis, aqualitative method that gives the opportunity to study not only what is said, but how things are said. In this thesis, the aim is to study how the image ofthe new influenza is transmitted via the texts. The texts have been analysed based on:- General and underlying themes- Words and concepts used- Persons/sources quoted or referred to- Historical connections/historical backgroundTheoretical perspectives: The study is based on theories about socialconstructionism and discourse analysis. Conclusions: the conclusions drawn from the study show that the media textsare more dramatic and sensational when it comes to describing the newinfluenza. The Swedish authorities have a more fact-based and calming tone towards the public. Within the analyzed material, it is possible to seedifferences between the discourses, also when describing the same themes. Within some themes, resemblances have been identified between the mediadiscourse and the authorithy discourse.</p>

Purpose: The purpose with this study is to analyze if the Swedish authorities and media had different ways of discussing the new influenza, in connection with the pandemic classification June 11, 2009. This is the first time an influenza has been classified as a pandemic since the Hongkong-influenza in1968. Methodology: The method used for the study is discourse analysis, aqualitative method that gives the opportunity to study not only what is said, but how things are said. In this thesis, the aim is to study how the image ofthe new influenza is transmitted via the texts. The texts have been analysed based on:- General and underlying themes- Words and concepts used- Persons/sources quoted or referred to- Historical connections/historical backgroundTheoretical perspectives: The study is based on theories about socialconstructionism and discourse analysis. Conclusions: the conclusions drawn from the study show that the media textsare more dramatic and sensational when it comes to describing the newinfluenza. The Swedish authorities have a more fact-based and calming tone towards the public. Within the analyzed material, it is possible to seedifferences between the discourses, also when describing the same themes. Within some themes, resemblances have been identified between the mediadiscourse and the authorithy discourse.

This thesis reports on the use of Twitter during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic to explore its use as an “infoveillance” approach complementary to traditional surveys and content analysis.  This study aimed to: 1) report on the use of “H1N1” versus “swine flu”, 2) conduct a qualitative analysis of tweet content, and 3) assess the feasibility of Twitter as a real-time content, sentiment, and public attention trend tracking tool. A manual content analysis of tweets revealed that H1N1 resources were the most commonly shared.  Few tweets provided inaccurate information.  News websites were the most popular resources while official agencies were rarely referenced directly.  Our automated analysis correlated well with manual results and showed that Twitter activity was influenced by external events. This study describes the character and quality of Twitter communications during the H1N1 pandemic, and illustrates the potential of using social media to conduct real-time “infodemiology” studies for public health.

This thesis reports on the use of Twitter during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic to explore its use as an “infoveillance” approach complementary to traditional surveys and content analysis.  This study aimed to: 1) report on the use of “H1N1” versus “swine flu”, 2) conduct a qualitative analysis of tweet content, and 3) assess the feasibility of Twitter as a real-time content, sentiment, and public attention trend tracking tool. A manual content analysis of tweets revealed that H1N1 resources were the most commonly shared.  Few tweets provided inaccurate information.  News websites were the most popular resources while official agencies were rarely referenced directly.  Our automated analysis correlated well with manual results and showed that Twitter activity was influenced by external events. This study describes the character and quality of Twitter communications during the H1N1 pandemic, and illustrates the potential of using social media to conduct real-time “infodemiology” studies for public health.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka vad som skiljer i personlighet mellan studenter som vaccinerade sig mot svininfluensan och studenter som inte vaccinerade sig. Studien genomfördes genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning på 194 studenter från ett universitet i Svealand. Deltagarna fick besvara psykometriska personlighetstester som mätte känslighet, ångest, depression, sympati och pålitlighet. Därefter utfördes statistiska test i SPSS för att i huvudsak beräkna medelvärdesskillnader. Resultaten visar att vaccinerade studenter är signifikant känsligare än ovaccinerade studenter. Vaccinerade studenter är också mer ångestfyllda men skillnaderna är inte signifikanta. Det finns inga nämnvärda skillnader i depression, sympati eller pålitlighet. Typ av utbildning och kön predicerar heller inte vaccinering. Sammanfattningsvis ska känslighet därmed ses som den viktigaste prediktorn för vilka personer som vaccinerar sig vid pandemier. Resultatet kan generaliseras till den svenska befolkningen eftersom studiens andel vaccinerade motsvarar befolkningens andel vaccinerade. Studiens urval motsvarar däremot inte den svenska populationens genomsnittliga utbildningsnivå. Å andra sidan har utbildningsnivå inte visat sig vara en betydande faktor för hälsoskyddande beteenden i tidigare forskning, varför mitt resultat bör betraktas som betydelsefullt. / The purpose of this study is to examine which personality aspects that are differing from students who got vaccinated against the swine flu, to students who did not get vaccinated. This study carried out a quantitative survey on 194 students from a mid-region university in Sweden. The participants were to answer psychometric personality tests on sensitivity, anxiety, depression, sympathy and dependability. Thereafter, statistical tests were conducted through SPSS, mainly to calculate mean differences. The results conclude that vaccinated students are significantly more sensitive than un-vaccinated students. Vaccinated students are also more anxious but these differences are not significant. There are no notable differences in depression, sympathy or dependability. Type of education and sex do not either predict vaccination. Finally, sensitivity shall be viewed as the most important predictor in a person’s likeliness to get vaccinated at pandemics. The findings can be generalized to the Swedish population because the proportion of vaccinated students in this study corresponds to the proportion of vaccinated people of the Swedish population. However, the sample of this study does not correspond to the educational level of the Swedish population. On the other hand, educational level has not been shown as an important determinant in health protective behaviors in former research literature, why my result should be considered as meaningful.

The aim of this thesis has been to examine how the risk for the swine flu was represented in the Swedish Radio news broadcast Ekot 16.45 during different phases of the pandemic in 2009. We wanted to study how the risk was described in different discourses and periods? Were the participants in the reporting calming or warning the listeners in relations to different aspects of the swine flu? What consequences for the community were reported in the broadcasting? To find the answers to our questions, we analysed 13 features about the swine flu broadcasted in Ekot’s main news broadcast Ekot 16.45. We used critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough. We identified four types of discourses in our text, a journalistic discourse, a medical discourse, a nationalistic discourse and an authority discourse. The main discourse was the medical one. We also discovered power relations in each discourse but also between them. We noticed that the media transmitted the information from the authorities like a megaphone, rather than handling it in their traditionally critical way. In addition most people interviewed were representatives from the authorities and not ordinary people, manifesting the above mentioned authoritative perspective/discourse and leading to an absence of descriptions on effects at an everyday level. We also observed that the risk was talked about in various ways depending on if the feature belonged to the warning or acute phase of the pandemic. In the way the features were presented, it was clear that the presentations of the swine flu also had effects on the community, the healthcare and the whole nation as if preparing for an outbreak.