Discussion of palliative care on Twitter is largely positive, and increasing

Dr Amara Nwosu is one of four UK researchers who have been looking at the use of Twitter to discuss palliative care. The study involved analysing the frequency, sentiment and trend of Twitter ‘tweets’ containing palliative care related hashtags (for example, #palliative) and/or phrases sent by users over the two-year period 2011 to 2013.

The analysis showed that the number of tweets about palliative care has been on the increase, and that the majority of tweets over this period were positive about the palliative care.

Dr Nwosu explains: “Overall this study demonstrates that a lot of discussion about palliative care is taking place on Twitter, and the majority of this is positive. Consequently, social media presents a novel opportunity for engagement and ongoing dialogue with public and professional groups about palliative care.”

To find out more, you can read Dr Nwosu’s article on ehospice UK, or access the article on the website of the BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. you can contact Dr Amara Nwosu at amaranwosu@doctors.org.uk or on Twitter @amaranwosu