Topic Modeling of Nursing Issues in the Media During 4 Emerging Infectious Disease Epidemics in South Korea: Descriptive Analysis

Background: Emerging infectious disease disasters receive extensive media coverage and public attention. Nurse burnout and attrition peak during health crises such as pandemics. However, there is limited research on nursing issues related to repeated emerging infectious disease crises over time.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze and draw implications from changes in key nursing issues reported by the news media during the outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS; 2003), influenza A (2009), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS; 2015), and COVID-19 (2020) in Korea using topic modeling.

Methods: A total of 51,489 news articles were extracted by searching for the keywords "nursing" or "nurse" in the title or body of articles published from April 2003 to May 2021 (during new infectious disease outbreaks) in the open integrated database. The selected news articles were preprocessed then analyzed for text and structure using a 3-step keyword analysis method, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, and keyword network analysis.

Results: Among the 51,489 news articles collected with the search terms "nursing" and "nurse," 17,285 (33.6%) were selected based on the eligibility criteria and used in the final analysis. Using topic modeling, we derived 5 topics each for SARS, influenza A, and MERS and 6 topics for COVID-19. The themes commonly identified through topic modeling and keyword network analysis across the 4 epidemics were "response to emerging infectious diseases in Korea," "demand for nurses," "vulnerability in the work environment," and "roles and responsibilities of nurses." Although the topic names were the same, the meanings implied by the comprehensive keywords for each epidemic varied depending on the epidemic and the times.

Conclusions: Analysis of the identified themes and associated keyword network revealed that issues related to nurse shortages, working conditions, and poor treatment were not unique to the COVID-19 pandemic but rather recurring themes from previous epidemics. Our findings can be used to inform strategies to improve the professional roles, work environment, and treatment of nurses during health crises. Suggestions for future nursing-related policy impact and change research are also provided.