The Effect of Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding in Public on Breastfeeding Rates and Duration: Results from South Korea

Sarah Prusoff LoCascio,조희원 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2017 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.4 No.4

Background: Attitudes toward breastfeeding in public are one potential barrier to optimal breastfeeding rates and durations. Method: Questions about breastfeeding experience and attitudes toward breastfeeding in public were asked in face-to-face interviews as part of the Korean Academic Multimode Open Survey (KAMOS), May-July, 2017. The response rate was 65.8% (2000 respondents nationwide). Results: A majority of Koreans disagreed (1 or 2 on a 4-point scale) with the statement ?쏻omen should not breastfeed their child in open, public places??(53.9%) and agreed (3 or 4 on the 4-part Likert scale) with the statements ?쏧 do not feel uncomfortable seeing women breastfeed their child in open, public places??(64.0%) and ?쏝reastfeeding a baby, instead of letting the baby cry, in public places is better for other people??(71.8%). However, despite these generally positive attitudes, the majority also said that they would not breastfeed in public (57.4% of women) or, in the case of men, would not want a close female relative to do so (63.8% of men). Breastfeeding in public was positively correlated with the duration of breastfeeding. People were more positive about breastfeeding in public if they: were parents; did not use formula and breastfeeding a similar amount; had children who had been breastfed in public; were older; were Buddhists rather than Christians. An attempt was made to compare attitudes toward breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding durations internationally, but was inconclusive due to not perfectly comparable data. Conclusion: Our results may be useful in planning public health campaigns in South Korea or future attempts at international comparisons to better understand and address the effect of public opinion regarding breastfeeding in public on breastfeeding rates and durations.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak Among Selected Employed People in the National Capital Region, Philippines

Angelito P. Bautista Jr.,Dianne Balibrea,Doris G. Bleza 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2020 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.8 No.3

COVID-19 has challenged the pandemic response capability of many countries. Many governments around the world have imposed strict quarantine measures and border control to slow the spread of the virus. In the Philippines, the longest community quarantine has been imposed in the National Capital Region (NCR). However, the effectiveness of such measures is dependent on the cooperation of the public. The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of selected employees in the NCR. An online survey was conducted June 4-18, 2020, with 100 employed people living in the NCR. Frequencies and percentages were computed to describe the respondents’ answers, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine the differences in the respondents’ KAP levels according to selected demographic characteristics. Of those surveyed, 92% have a high knowledge of COVID-19. The respondents have a positive attitude toward the need for health education and the seriousness of COVID-19, as well as stricter measures against the pandemic, but are less positive in terms of how the government is responding to the pandemic. They also follow strict measures that will prevent the further spread of the virus. The results highlight the respondents’ favorability of stricter government measures to control the spread of COVID-19, including the re-imposition of an enhanced community quarantine in the NCR.

Public Opinion on Lockdown (PSBB) Policy in Overcoming COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia: Analysis Based on Big Data Twitter

Catur Suratnoaji,Nurhadi,Irwan Dwi Arianto 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2020 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.8 No.3

The discourse on the lockdown in Indonesia is getting stronger due to the increasing number of positive cases of the coronavirus and the death rate. As of August 12, 2020, the confirmed number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia reached 130,718. There were 85,798 victims who have recovered and 5,903 who have died. Data show a significant increase in cases of COVID-19 every day. For this reason, there needs to be an evaluation of the government policy of the Republic of Indonesia in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. An evaluation of policies for handling the pandemic must include public opinion to determine any weaknesses of this policy. The development of public opinion about the lockdown policy can be understood through social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, measuring public opinion through traditional methods (surveys) was difficult. For this reason, we utilized big data on social media as research data. The main purpose of this study is to understand public opinion on the lockdown policy in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The things observed included: volume of Twitter users, top influencers, top tweets, and communication networks between Twitter users. For the methodological development of future public opinion research, the researchers outline the obstacles faced in researching public opinion based on big data from Twitter. The research results show that the lockdown policy is an interesting issue, as evidenced by the number of active users (79,502) forming 133,209 networks. Posts about the lockdown on Twitter continued to increase after the implementation of the lockdown policy on April 10, 2020. The lockdown policy has caused various reactions, seen from the word analysis showing 14.8% positive sentiment, 17.5% negative, and 67.67% non-categorized words. Sources of information who have played the roles of top influencers regarding the lockdown policy include: Jokowi (the president of the Republic of Indonesia), online media, television media, government departments, and governors. Based on the analysis of the network structure, it shows that Jokowi has a central role in controlling the lockdown policy. Several challenges were found in this study: 1) choosing keywords for downloading data, 2) categorizing words containing public opinion sentiment, and 3) determining the sample size.

Public Perception on Transparency and Trust in Government Information Released During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alila Pramiyanti,Ira Dwi Mayangsari,Reni Nuraeni,Yasinta Darin Firdaus 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2020 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.8 No.3

A low level of transparency and trust in the release of government information during the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease the chance of success in handling the coronavirus outbreak. This worldwide pandemic has damaged not only human health but also created an economic and social crisis. Indonesia is no exception. Unfortunately, an analysis of a mixed-method survey of 500 participants found that public perception of transparency in the government’s release of COVID-19 information is still at a low level. This perceived low level of transparency generates minimum trust in the information. Only 8% of participants trust the government’s information regarding the virus. Even though the Indonesian government launched an official website, www.covid19.go.id, which is intended as a primary source of valid information about COVID-19 in Indonesia, most survey participants had never used the website. However, contrary to the low levels of perceived transparency and trust, most participants said that the messages from the government are clear and easy to understand. This contradiction resulted from skepticism toward the government. Therefore, this research presents a better understanding of how the level of transparency and trust is also related to the level of skepticism of the government.

Public Opinion on the Duterte Administration’s COVID-19 Period through Editorial Cartoons on Facebook

Brian Saludes Bantugan 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2020 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.8 No.4

This study explores the images and ideas presented by the editorial cartoons that have appeared in the author’s Facebook timeline during Duterte’s enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). The study analyzed 70 editorial cartoons posted between March 14, 2020, when Duterte declared ECQ in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, and June 22, 2020, a few days before the emergency powers of Duterte expired. This study used (visual-verbal) textual analysis as the research method to surface discourses embedded in the selected editorial cartoons. The editorial cartoons were clustered according to the roles the powerful people play in the images, and the details of each image were compared and contrasted to surface nuances in representation. The 70 editorial cartoons were classified into seven categories: (1) invisible (non-suffering) persons, (2) front liners, (3) privileged homeowners, (4) priority clients, (5) judges, (6) gatekeepers, and (7) dysfunctional public officials. They gravitated towards the tragic realities that call for acts of social justice and equity, and underscore specific contexts that need to be fixed by those in power.

Experiences of Patients with Coronavirus in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era in Indonesia

I Gede Juanamasta,Yupin Aungsuroch,Joko Gunawan 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2020 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.8 No.3

COVID-19 is considered the worst pandemic of the beginning of the 21st century. Among the ASEAN countries, Indonesia has the second highest number of active cases and is ranked 23th in the world in active cases as of August 14, 2020. The number of people becoming infected in Indonesia continues to grow along with fear and panic conditions that have negative impacts on Indonesian society. Therefore, efforts to deal with the conditions should be made. This study aims to explore the experience of patients with COVID-19 experiences during the treatment process. This study used literature and video clip analysis of 14 cases. Data were analyzed using content analysis. The results were presented in the following five themes (i) experience of receiving a diagnosis (I am shocked, how could I get infected?, suggestive thinking between dead or alive, and uncertainty of the test result), (ii) boredom during isolation, (iii) being stigmatized and discriminated against, (iv) self-reflection with God, and (v) social support from family members and healthcare workers. This study serves as an input to increase the chances of the recovery of the patients with COVID-19.

Factors Affecting City Image During the COVID-19 Era

황성욱,Jiyang Bae,Sojung Kim,김효정 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2022 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.10 No.1

This study examined the perceived contingent factors that affect South Korean citizens’ image of the city they reside in. The respondents in this study perceived the image of their city through two dimensions––leading and safe––during the COVID-19 era. When respondents perceived the openness and expertise of the local government, the transformational and transactional leadership of the government leader, liberal political orientation of the leader, lower degree of law compliance of the mayor, high degree of citizenship, and high level of living infrastructure and competitiveness as attributes of the city, they were more likely to perceive the city as having a “leading” image. The perceived cultural characteristics of the local government, specifically the factor of hierarchy and regulation, the perceptions of citizenship, and all three variables regarding the perceptions related to city attributes (i.e., environmental, cultural, and living infrastructure and competitiveness) positively influenced the perception of a “safe” city image. Based on the results, various theoretical and practical implications were discussed in this study.

Users’ Reactions to Rape News Shared on Social Media: An Analysis of Five Facebook Reaction Buttons

Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman,Tasnuva Alam Ahona 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2022 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.10 No.1

This study investigated 3.50 million Facebook reactions collected from 9,429 Bangladeshi news articles about rape shared on social media from 2016 to 2021. The primary aim of this study was to understand users’ different reaction patterns based on the five major Facebook reactions (i.e., love, haha, wow, sad, and angry). Based on the theories of emotion, we quantitatively answer one research question: How do social media users react to rape with the five major Facebook reactions? The results suggest that users are more likely to express disdain toward rape and sympathy toward the victims using Facebook reactions by using the angry button, along with the sad button. In rape news, both reactions are consistent and maintain a strong positive correlation, meaning they increase and decrease together. Although many users tend to mock and laugh at rape incidents and the victims, trend lines suggest that such expressions may not be consistent with time. Despite contextual relevance, we presume that in socially and morally unacceptable events like rape and war, the valences of reactions alter to some extent: angry and sad usually become positive, while love, wow, and haha become negative. Some strengths and limitations of the study are discussed as well.

Predictors of Videoconference Fatigue: Results from Undergraduate Nursing Students in the Philippines

Ryan Michael F. Oducado,Maria Teresa R. Fajardo,Geneveve M. Parreño-Lachica,Jestoni D. Maniago,Paulo Martin B. Villanueva,Ma. Asuncion Christine V. Dequilla,Hilda C. Montaño,Emily E. Robite 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2021 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.9 No.4

Driven by the need for remote learning, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the rise of use of videoconferencing tools. Scholars began noticing an emerging phenomenon of feeling tired and exhausted during virtual meetings. This study determined the predictors of videoconference or Zoom fatigue among nursing students in a large, private, non-sectarian university in the Philippines. This cross-sectional online survey involves 597 nursing students in the Philippines using the Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine predictors of videoconference fatigue. Results indicated that nursing students experienced high levels of videoconference fatigue. Gender, self-reported academic performance, Internet connection stability, attitude toward videoconferencing, frequency, and duration of videoconferences predicted videoconference fatigue. The regression model explained 25.3% of the variances of the videoconference fatigue. Videoconference fatigue is relatively prevalent and may be taking its toll on nursing students. Developing strategic interventions that can protect or mitigate the impact of fatigue during virtual meetings is needed.

Topic Modeling of Korean Newspaper Articles on Aging via Latent Dirichlet Allocation

So Chung Lee 충남대학교 아시아여론연구소 2022 Asian journal for public opinion research Vol.10 No.1

The purpose of this study is to explore the structure of social discourse on aging in Korea by analyzing newspaper articles on aging. The analysis is composed of three steps: first, data collection and preprocessing; second, identifying the latent topics; and third, observing yearly dynamics of topics. In total, 1,472 newspaper articles that included the word “aging” within the title were collected from 10 major newspapers between 2006 and 2019. The underlying topic structure was analyzed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a topic modeling method widely adopted by text mining academics and researchers. Seven latent topics were generated from the LDA model, defined as social issues, death, private insurance, economic growth, national debt, labor market innovation, and income security. The topic loadings demonstrated a clear increase in public interest on topics such as national debt and labor market innovation in recent years. This study concludes that media discourse on aging has shifted towards more productivity and efficiency related issues, requiring older people to be productive citizens. Such subjectivation connotes a decreased role of the government and society by shifting the responsibility to individuals not being able to adapt successfully as productive citizens within the labor market.