Cultural Differences in Emotions and Opinions on Painless Delivery: Comparison of Twitter and Weibo Posts

Abstract

The decision-making process for the use of pharmaceutical interventions in health communication scenarios can be complex, often involving multiple influences. One salient health issue that a mother-to-be would encounter is the decision-making in using pain control during labor. This study focused on people’s attitudes toward epidural analgesia (EA) in labor, comparing comments raised in Twitter and Weibo, in an attempt to delineate cultural differences in opinion pertaining to this issue. Sentiment and thematic content analyses were conducted over the course of one year. The results of these analyses suggest that, with the cultivation of policy and cultural discrepancies, the use of EA is a controversial and complicated topic over both platforms. Twitter users expressed a higher prevalence of negative emotions, while Weibo users were positive. Additionally, the narratives revealed the influence of perceptions of self-construal and female empowerment. Finally, the analyses highlighted the differing understandings of the concept of pain and medical intervention in different cultural contexts. The results indicate that the promotion of EA use for delivery remains a contentious issue that warrants further attention.

Keywords

Cross-cultural / social media / English / Chinese / childbirth / painless / epidural / sentiment analysis / thematic analysis

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