Falotico, Rosa and Liberati, Caterina and Zappa, Paola
(2015)
Identifying Oncological Patient Information
Needs to Improve e-Health Communication: a
preliminary text-mining analysis.
Quality and Reliability Engineering International, 31 (7).
pp. 1115-1126.
ISSN 0748-8017
Abstract
Extant healthcare literature has demonstrated that providing oncological patients with detailed, continuous, and diversified
information on their pathology positively affects patient empowerment and care continuum effectiveness.
Medical information is traditionally conveyed by physicians and professional care givers. In the latest years, however,
there has been a rapid rise in the use of web media as a source of health information. Improving cancer care continuum
requires also the implementation of a reliable and high-quality oncological web communication system, as well as a deeper
understanding of patients’ requirements in this respect. To the best of our knowledge, however, no papers have investigated
the importance and role of web communication, and of websites, in particular.
This work aims to address these aspects explicitly, proposing the use of text mining as a tool for identifying oncological
patient communication needs. For this purpose, we conducted an exploratory study on a sample of rare cancer patients. Text
mining techniques were applied on transcriptions of semi-structured interviews on patients’ information requirements, and
the text content was synthetized. By means of correspondence analysis, the main concepts expressed by patients were
identified, and the association between patients and concepts was represented in an appropriate metric space.
Although our study is at an early stage, the findings highlighted by this preliminary text mining analysis could support the
design of a patient-centered e-health communication system and be the basis for further analysis.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
oncological patient empowerment; oncological patient communication needs; health communication; web content; text
mining; correspondence analysis; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business |
| Item ID: |
11292 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1002/qre.1853 |
| Depositing User: |
Paola Zappa
|
| Date Deposited: |
16 Oct 2019 10:51 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Quality and Reliability Engineering International |
| Publisher: |
Wiley & Sons |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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