Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.24869/psyd.2018.395

BIG DATA IN ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY: DO PATIENTS SHARE THEIR PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES?

Halit Necmi Uçar ; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Van Education and Research Hospital, Van, Turkey
Safak Eray ; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Uludag, Uludag,Turkey
Ömer Kocael ; Graduated from Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Uludag, Uludag, Turkey
Lütfi Uçar ; Graduated from Master of Science in Management Engineering, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
Müslüm Kaymak ; Graduated from Master of Science in Management Engineering, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
Emanuele Lettieri ; Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
Ayse Pinar Vural ; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Uludag, Uludag,Turkey

Abstract

Background: Fascinating developments in big data technologies and unprecedented diffusion of social networking sites (SNSs) generate unseen opportunities for scientific fields, including psychiatry. This study focuses on the use of SNSs by adolescent psychiatric patients and the potential use of SNS-generated data to help medical practitioners diagnose and treat patients’ mental health. Our objective is to understand and measure the psychiatric and individual conditions in which symptom-sharing occurs on SNSs and the frequency of these conditions. Based on literature, we hypothesized that the perceived value of social network sites positively affects adolescents’ sharing of symptoms on these sites.
Subjects and methods: An empirical test of this hypothesis was conducted with a survey of 224 adolescents admitted to a psychiatry clinic in Turkey. The hypothesis was tested using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
Results: The perceived value of SNSs explained an additional 37.8% of variation in symptom sharing on SNSs above and beyond the control variables, which are gender, age, type of disorder, and amount of internet and SNS use. The findings suggested that adolescents share symptoms on SNSs only if they attribute value to the SNSs that they use. We also found that 72% of adolescents in our sample shared their symptoms on SNSs.
Conclusions: There is an attractive opportunity for information technology companies to develop, together with health professionals; data analytics that are able to detect symptoms to support psychiatric diagnoses and pave the way for big-data enabled personalized medicine.

Keywords

big data; adolescent psychiatry; social networking sites; symptom sharing

Hrčak ID:

222219

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/222219

Publication date:

23.11.2018.

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