IJERPH, Vol. 20, Pages 3246: The Influence of Social Media on the Perception of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Content Analysis of Public Discourse on YouTube Videos

IJERPH, Vol. 20, Pages 3246: The Influence of Social Media on the Perception of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Content Analysis of Public Discourse on YouTube Videos International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043246 Authors: Schwab Bakombo Paulette Ewalefo Anne T. M. Konkle Background: Little is known about how social media shapes the public’s perception of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used a media content analysis approach to analyze the public’s perception of ASD. Methods: We conducted a YouTube search in 2019 using keywords related to ASD. The first 10 videos displayed after each search that met the eligibility criteria were selected for analysis. The final sample size of videos analyzed was 50. The top 10 comments from each respective video were selected for commentary analysis. A total of 500 comments were used for this study. Videos and comments were categorized based on sentiment, evident themes, and subthemes. In 2022, using the same key words, we conducted a subsequent YouTube search using the same criteria, except that the videos had to be 10 min or less, whereby nine videos were selected out of 70 for commentary analysis, and a total of 180 comments were used. Results: The dominant themes were “providing educational information on ASD characteristics” with the main subtheme being “no specific age or sex focus”. The most commo...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research