Implementing sentiment analysis to an open-ended questionnaire : Case study of digitalization in elderly care during COVID-19

Abstract

The rise of technology has enabled us to utilize even more integrated systems for social and health care, but these systems are often complex and time-consuming to learn for the end users without relevant training or experience. We aim to perform sentiment analysis based on the answers of eldercare workers that have taken a survey about the effects of digitalization in their work. The collecting of the panel survey data was done in two waves: in 2019 and 2021. For the sentiment analysis we compare these two waves to determine the effects of COVID-19 in the work of caretakers. The research questions we ask are the following: “Has technology affected care workers’ emotions in their work and how?" and “Has COVID-19 affected care workers’ views on digitalization in their work?”. The main results suggest that criticism of modern technology persists through time - that is, before and after the pandemic the same type of negative and positive sentiments are manifested in the results. However, there is an exception of COVID-related terminology that is only visible in the latter part (year 2021) of the analysis.