Cancer framing and psychological characteristics in online cancer diaries: A mixed-methods study in China

Drawing upon previous research, this paper creatively combines different methods to conduct text analysis of cancer diaries related to cancer treatment on Chinese social media Weibo, and explores the sentiment, adoption of cancer frames, and psychological aspects of language. Initially, sentiment analysis technology is employed to investigate the sentiment in cancer diaries. Subsequently, the cancer frames in the text data are encoded, and similarity analysis is conducted to depict the associations among different frames. Lastly, the psycholinguistic dictionary of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) are utilized to explore the multivariate associations among different sentiment orientations, frames, and psychological states. Our study aims to aid in understanding the concerns and communication of patient groups regarding the cancer treatment process, provide actionable insights for healthcare professionals and researchers to better understand patient experiences and improve cancer care communication.