Conectar
by Vinay Jagdish Sukhija, Elisa Mancinelli, Rachele Del Guerra, Silvia Salcuni
Non-suicidal self-injury e-Communities are increasingly gaining popularity, and people who self-harm are turning to these groups to share their experiences and feelings. They are doing so through a unique set of specific slang words related to the behaviour of self-harm that seems to be pertinent to these e-communities. In this regard, this study aims to explore slang words and differences in their usage across communities. A sample of 410 posts and respective comments were extracted from two self-harm e-communities on Reddit based on predetermined slang keywords through Python Reddit API Wrapper. A content analysis was performed, indicating that slang words prevailed across 8 different domains; the 3 most prevalent were sense of belonging, medical care, and sarcasm and self-deprecation. Inter-rater reliability of the analysis found strong agreement across the 3 individual coders. Chi-square analyses were then performed to evaluate differences in the frequency of domains and subdomains between the two self-harm e-communities. Significant differences were observed across subdomains (X2 = 244.9, p = 0.001) but not across the domains. Finally, sentiment analysis was conducted, and Mann-Whitney U-tests across the two communities found that one of the two is significantly more negative in sentiment value (U = 23808, p = 0.019) while, consequently, the other had a significantly larger overall compound sentiment score (U = 17429, p = 0.003). Overall, lived experience findings from the textual descriptions of users indicate the pervasiveness of slang words across these communities and the further need to investigate their nuanced and varied usage. Building on the person-centred framework in NSSI research, a case is made for the development of more targeted and tailored interventions, such as e-health mobile and application-based interventions, that consider the unique contributions of NSSI e-Communities in the life and context of a person who engages in self-harm.Long-term brain health profiles following exposure to repetitive head impacts and/or concussions in contact sports are a public health focus and the subject of a national debate. The true prevalence rates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or neurobehavioural dysregulation are unknown in the nearly 20 000 current/living former professional football players. Here, we describe the procedures and methodology of the prevalence study of cognitive function in former professional football players from the Brain Health Initiative at the University of Pittsburgh. The objective is to define the prevalence of normal cognitive function versus neurodegeneration in former professional football players through clinical, neuroimaging and biomarker assessments.
Participants include former professional football players aged 29–59 years at study onset who played a minimum of three professional football games in three professional seasons and non-exposed controls. Participants are recruited by two mechanisms, a random and non-random sample. The full study protocol includes a 3–4-day, multidomain assessment (eg, neurological, neurocognitive, psychiatric, sleep, vestibular, orthopaedic and cardiovascular) for neurodegenerative disease and overall health and function, including MRI, positron emission tomography scans, analysis of blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid, neurocognitive assessments, applanation tonometry, overnight sleep study and informant interview. A multidisciplinary clinical panel conducts a blinded diagnostic consensus conference to adjudicate the presence of MCI and/or traumatic encephalopathy syndrome, which serve as the study’s primary and secondary outcomes, respectively. Point prevalence of these for both the exposed and unexposed cohorts will be calculated as the primary statistical analysis.
The University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board approved the study prior to recruiting human subjects (protocol numbers STUDY19010008: sIRB - Brain Health Initiative (Part 1) and STUDY19030211: sIRB - Brain Health Initiative (Part 2)). The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and as presentations at national and international scientific conferences.
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