Study shows stress of living with health issue

Children with multiple long-term health issues undergo severe emotional stress at the same time as they are trying to cope with the physical challenges of their conditions, a study has found.

The University of Plymouth has led research using AI language models to analyse sentiments and emotions expressed by about 400 paediatric patients and their caregivers on social media.

Research aimed to assess young people's opinions regarding their care and experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact it had on their emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Anonymous data from the Care Opinion platform found about 94% of comments posted were classed as negative and less than 6% were positive.

More than six out of 10 negative comments were classed as being associated with sadness and with feelings of fear.

Children with conditions such as cancer, asthma, chronic pain and mental health conditions showed particularly high emotional distress.

A total of 6% of the comments were classed as positive, with most of them related to effective communication, compassionate care and successful treatment outcomes.

Researchers said the study highlighted the importance of supporting vulnerable young patients managing complex medical conditions and the need for integrated care approaches to both physical and emotional well-being.

Research leader Prof Shang-Ming Zhou said, to their knowledge, it was "the first study of its kind to analyse the sentiments and emotions of paediatric patients using social media data".

He said: "Our findings bring to light the deeply emotional journey patients with multiple long-term health issues go through and fills a critical gap in knowledge for healthcare professionals and agencies.

"It also highlights the disproportionate emotional burden faced by paediatric patients with multiple health issues and their caregivers during the pandemic, showing the need for targeted interventions to address emotional responses during public health emergencies."

Student Israel Oluwalade, who carried out the data analysis, said the research revealed stark correlations between children's emotional responses who had two or more medical conditions.

He said: "For example, fear and sadness were especially dominant among those discussing multiple hospital visits or long-term medication.

"What also surprised me most was the unexpectedly high frequency of 'satisfaction' and 'amazement' in posts referencing kind staff or successful treatment episodes.

"It reminded me how digital expressions can reflect not only distress but also resilience and hope, even among young patients with complex conditions."

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