Exploring Public Perception of Palliative Care and Hospice: Sentiment Analysis and Topic Modeling of YouTube Comments

This study explores public perceptions of palliative and hospice care through analysis of user comments on Korean-language YouTube videos. A total of 12,155 comments were collected from 54 videos retrieved using the keywords "palliative care" and "hospice." The search was conducted between September 11 and October 31, 2024. Sentiment analysis using a Korean-language sentiment lexicon revealed that the majority of comments were neutral (57.8%), followed by negative (23.0%) and positive (19.2%) sentiments. Topic modeling using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation method identified 13 recurring themes: religious beliefs, diagnosis and treatments, pain control, family caregiving, death with dignity, emotional farewell, social support and policy, life reflection, meaning of end-of-life care, hope, appreciation, decision-making, and remembrance and mourning. Nurses play an important role in addressing the public misconceptions and emotional concerns regarding end-of-life care that are frequently expressed on online platforms. Insights from this study can support the development of tailored communication strategies, promote early advance care planning, and inform informatics-based interventions to improve equitable access to hospice and palliative care. These findings also highlight the potential of social media analysis as a tool for understanding public needs and guiding data-informed nursing practice.