Steven formed Text Mining Solutions in April 2011 after 26 years of experience in hi-tech roles in the public and private sectors focused on creating and building products that transform the way we and out clients do business. His most recent position was as Innovation Manager of FERA (Food and Environment Research Agency), the UK Government’s specialist research facility. Early in his career he held technical roles at Napp Pharmaceuticals and Chemex International. He holds a masters degree in Forensic Science from the University of Strathclyde. 

I’ll be heading north next month, to present posters at the ISPOR 20^th Annual European Congress.

ISPOR – or The International Society for Pharmacoenomics and Outcomes – is the leading global scientific and educational organization for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) and its use in decision making to improve health. The congress in Glasgow will centre on the theme of The Evolution of Value in Health Care.

The posters will be displayed on Tuesday, November 7, 2017  09:45 – 13:30

I’ll be talking about how we recently used Text Mining in collaboration with KMHO to gain insights into how patients are coping with the psychological effects of opiate-induced constipation (OIC); a side effect of the prolonged use of these drugs.

If you’re not familiar with the term Text Mining, you’ll find a more detailed guide on our website – take a look here. I’ll sum it up for now by saying that sometimes, the number of documents that need reading are far greater than the human reader can process themselves. That’s where we come in. We extract words and phrases to uncover key findings buried deep within swathes of documents – or in this case, patient social media feeds.

What did we learn? A range of emotions were reported by patients with OIC. The most common emotions were fear, embarrassment, depression, and feeling low and miserable. More generally, this research project shows that social media can be an important source of insight on patient psychology; which could be invaluable when designing further qualitative or quantitative research or in better understanding the burden of a particular condition.

Patient-reported outcomes poster

One OIC sufferer commented “I feel so bad for my 15 year old daughter, as I used to be a ‘fun mom’. We have been close and now I almost wonder if she resents me for being involved with all these issues. It’s gross to a teenager.”

The results were made available to our client through a customised web interface like this one.

If you happen to be going to the ISPOR Congress, come and say hello. We’re in RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATIONS – SESSION III, GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS.

Do you have a question about how Text Mining Solutions could help your business? (Almost every business can benefit!). Then please get in touch.

Steven Brewer.