TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bacsu, Juanita-Dawne
AU  - O'Connell, Megan E
AU  - Cammer, Allison
AU  - Azizi, Mahsa
AU  - Grewal, Karl
AU  - Poole, Lisa
AU  - Green, Shoshana
AU  - Sivananthan, Saskia
AU  - Spiteri, Raymond J
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/2/3
TI  - Using Twitter to Understand the COVID-19 Experiences of People With Dementia: Infodemiology Study
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e26254
VL  - 23
IS  - 2
KW  - Twitter
KW  - social media
KW  - dementia
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - health policy
KW  - experience
KW  - support
KW  - disorder
KW  - theme
KW  - collaborate
KW  - quality of life
AB  - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people with dementia in numerous ways. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research on the COVID-19 impact on people with dementia and their care partners. Objective: Using Twitter, the purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of COVID-19 for people with dementia and their care partners. Methods: We collected tweets on COVID-19 and dementia using the GetOldTweets application in Python from February 15 to September 7, 2020. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the tweets. Results: From the 5063 tweets analyzed with line-by-line coding, we identified 4 main themes including (1) separation and loss; (2) COVID-19 confusion, despair, and abandonment; (3) stress and exhaustion exacerbation; and (4) unpaid sacrifices by formal care providers. Conclusions: There is an imminent need for governments to rethink using a one-size-fits-all response to COVID-19 policy and use a collaborative approach to support people with dementia. Collaboration and more evidence-informed research are essential to reducing COVID-19 mortality and improving the quality of life for people with dementia and their care partners. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - https://www.jmir.org/2021/2/e26254
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/26254
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33468449
DO  - 10.2196/26254
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/26254
ER  -