US Black Maternal Health Advocacy Topics and Trends on Twitter: Temporal Infoveillance Study

Abstract

Background Black women in the United States disproportionately suffer adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes compared to White women. Economic adversity and implicit bias during clinical encounters may lead to physiological responses that place Black women at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes. The novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) further exacerbated this risk, as safety protocols increased social isolation in clinical settings, thereby limiting opportunities to advocate for unbiased care. Twitter, 1 of the most popular social networking sites, has been used to study a variety of issues of public interest, including health care. This study considers whether posts on Twitter accurately reflect public discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic and are being used in infodemiology studies by public health experts. Objective This study aims to assess the feasibility of Twitter for identifying public discourse related to social determinants of health and advocacy that influence maternal health among Black women across the United States and to examine trends in sentiment between 2019 and 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Tweets were collected from March 1 to July 13, 2020, from 21 organizations and influencers and from 4 hashtags that focused on Black maternal health. Additionally, tweets from the same organizations and hashtags were collected from the year prior, from March 1 to July 13, 2019. Twint, a Python programming library, was used for data collection and analysis. We gathered the text of approximately 17,000 tweets, as well as all publicly available metadata. Topic modeling and k-means clustering were used to analyze the tweets. Results A variety of trends were observed when comparing the 2020 data set to the 2019 data set from the same period. The percentages listed for each topic are probabilities of that topic occurring in our corpus. In our topic models, tweets on reproductive justice, maternal mortality crises, and patient care increased by 67.46% in 2020 versus 2019. Topics on community, advocacy, and health equity increased by over 30% in 2020 versus 2019. In contrast, tweet topics that decreased in 2020 versus 2019 were as follows: tweets on Medicaid and medical coverage decreased by 27.73%, and discussions about creating space for Black women decreased by just under 30%. Conclusions The results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic may have spurred an increased focus on advocating for improved reproductive health and maternal health outcomes among Black women in the United States. Further analyses are needed to capture a longer time frame that encompasses more of the pandemic, as well as more diverse voices to confirm the robustness of the findings. We also concluded that Twitter is an effective source for providing a snapshot of relevant topics to guide Black maternal health advocacy efforts.

Tweets That Matter: Exploring the Solutions to Maternal Mortality in the United States Discussed by Advocacy Organizations on Twitter

“…One of the critical issues maternal health advocates are addressing is the lack of access to high-quality maternal care, particularly in Black communities [6,25]. More than 50% of US counties are without a practicing obstetrician, and many rural hospitals have closed their obstetric units due to financial challenges [26].…”

“…For instance, one study investigated the feasibility of using Twitter to identify public discourse on maternal health among Black women across the United States. The study revealed that Twitter is a valuable source for providing a snapshot of relevant topics to guide Black maternal health advocacy efforts [6]. There is a need to examine how advocacy groups use Twitter to raise awareness about US maternal mortality in ways that quantitative research cannot fully explore.…”

“…Several governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the US Health and Human Services, are working tirelessly to raise awareness of the causes of maternal mortality in the United States, including racism and discrimination, socioeconomic determinants of health, chronic conditions, and limited access to healthcare in rural communities [5]. Maternal health advocacy groups have turned to social media, especially Twitter, to promote maternal health and raise awareness about maternal mortality trends [6]. Previous studies have investigated the use of social media to create maternal health awareness [7,8].…”

“…Previous studies have investigated the use of social media to create maternal health awareness [7,8]. However, few studies have examined the use of Twitter to advocate for increased attention to maternal health issues [6]. No study has specifically explored the solutions these organizations advocate for and how these solutions could potentially impact public opinion, discourse, and political actions.…”