Dr. Deric Kenne of the Kent State Center for Public Policy and Health, along with lead author Dr. Jianfeng Zhu and Dr Rouming Jin of the Kent State Department of Computer Science, Dr. Hai Phan of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Dr. Wei-Shinn Ku of Auburn University combined their resources to develop the study. “User Dynamics and Thematic Exploration in r/Depression during COVID-19: Insights from Overlapping r/SuicideWatch Users” aims to understand the behavior of internet communities supporting fellow users struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide to gain insight into early signs of distress through post content, transition patterns, and themes related to depression behaviors and thoughts of suicide. Researchers analyzed the behavior of two Reddit communities, r/SuicideWatch and r/Depression, spanning the COVID-19 pandemic using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and statistical methodology. Findings suggest the need to foster stable, responsive, and empathetic interactions online. Based on the results, the authors believe integrating empathetic human chatbots and online community counseling could complement traditional methods of mental health support.
Read the full article here: https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/53968/accepted
To learn more about the Kent State Department of Computer Science, visit: https://www.kent.edu/cs