Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis

Li, Jiaxuan; Pang, Patrick Cheong-Iao; Xiao, Yundan; Wong, Dennis

doi:10.3390/ijerph192013446

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis

by

Jiaxuan Li

¹,

Patrick Cheong-Iao Pang

^1,*

,

Yundan Xiao

² and

Dennis Wong

^1,3

¹

Faculty of Applied Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao SAR 999078, China

²

Research Institute of Forest Resource Information Techniques, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China

³

Department of Computer Science, Stony Brook University, New York, NY 11794, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13446; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013446

Submission received: 7 September 2022 / Revised: 9 October 2022 / Accepted: 14 October 2022 / Published: 18 October 2022

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Abstract

Doctor–patient relationships (DPRs) in China have been straining. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationships and interactions between patients and doctors are changing. This study investigated how patients’ attitudes toward physicians changed during the pandemic and what factors were associated with these changes, leading to insights for improving management in the healthcare sector. This paper collected 58,600 comments regarding Chinese doctors from three regions from the online health platform Good Doctors Online (haodf.com, accessed on 13 October 2022). These comments were analyzed using text mining techniques, such as sentiment and word frequency analyses. The results showed improvements in DPRs after the pandemic, and the degree of improvement was related to the extent to which a location was affected. The findings also suggest that administrative services in the healthcare sector need further improvement. Based on these results, we summarize relevant recommendations at the end of this paper.

Keywords: doctor–patient relationship; doctor reviews; sentiment analysis; word frequency analysis; text mining; COVID-19

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MDPI and ACS Style

Li, J.; Pang, P.C.-I.; Xiao, Y.; Wong, D. Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 13446. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013446

AMA Style

Li J, Pang PC-I, Xiao Y, Wong D. Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(20):13446. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013446

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Jiaxuan, Patrick Cheong-Iao Pang, Yundan Xiao, and Dennis Wong. 2022. "Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 20: 13446. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013446

APA Style

Li, J., Pang, P. C.-I., Xiao, Y., & Wong, D. (2022). Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(20), 13446. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013446

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Changes in Doctor–Patient Relationships in China during COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis

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