Pilar Medina-Bravo

Dr. Pilar Medina-Bravo


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

16Years (2011-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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7 July 2020 in Journal of Medical Internet Research
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
DRDiana Ramírez-Cifuentes
Diana Ramírez-Cifuentes
AFAna Freire
Ana Freire
RBRicardo Baeza-Yates
Ricardo Baeza-Yates
JPJoaquim Puntí
Joaquim Puntí
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
JGJordi Gonzalez
Jordi Gonzalez
Background: Suicide risk assessment usually involves an interaction between doctors and patients. However, a significant number of people with mental disorders receive no treatment for their condition due to the limited access to mental health care facilities; the reduced availability of clinicians; the lack of awareness; and stigma, neglect, and discrimination surrounding mental disorders. In contrast, internet access and social media usage have increased significantly, providing experts and patients with a means of communication that may contribute to the development of methods to detect mental health issues among social media users. Objective: This paper aimed to describe an approach for the suicide risk assessment of Spanish-speaking users on social media. We aimed to explore behavioral, relational, and multimodal data extracted from multiple social platforms and develop machine learning models to detect users at risk. Methods: We characterized users based on their writings, posting patterns, relations with other users, and images posted. We also evaluated statistical and deep learning approaches to handle multimodal data for the detection of users with signs of suicidal ideation (suicidal ideation risk group). Our methods were evaluated over a dataset of 252 users annotated by clinicians. To evaluate the performance of our models, we distinguished 2 control groups: users who make use of suicide-related vocabulary (focused control group) and generic random users (generic control group). Results: We identified significant statistical differences between the textual and behavioral attributes of each of the control groups compared with the suicidal ideation risk group. At a 95% CI, when comparing the suicidal ideation risk group and the focused control group, the number of friends (P=.04) and median tweet length (P=.04) were significantly different. The median number of friends for a focused control user (median 578.5) was higher than that for a user at risk (median 372.0). Similarly, the median tweet length was higher for focused control users, with 16 words against 13 words of suicidal ideation risk users. Our findings also show that the combination of textual, visual, relational, and behavioral data outperforms the accuracy of using each modality separately. We defined text-based baseline models based on bag of words and word embeddings, which were outperformed by our models, obtaining an increase in accuracy of up to 8% when distinguishing users at risk from both types of control users. Conclusions: The types of attributes analyzed are significant for detecting users at risk, and their combination outperforms the results provided by generic, exclusively text-based baseline models. After evaluating the contribution of image-based predictive models, we believe that our results can be improved by enhancing the models based on textual and relational features. These methods can be extended and applied to different use cases related to other mental disorders.

1 July 2020 in Comunicar
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Mònika Jiménez-MoralesMònika Jiménez-Morales
Mònika Jiménez-Morales
Mireia Montaña BlascoMireia Montaña Blasco
Mireia Montaña Blasco
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
The presence and variety of mobile devices in Spanish homes, regardless of the social and economic con-text, has been widespread for years. Several studies focus on parental mediation in children's consumption of smart devices, however, there is a lack of scientific evidence about how the educational level and the professional profile of parents affect children’s digital media consumption. This study analyzes the influence of the socio-educational level of families on the consumption of digital screens. The study deepens the understanding on the educational level of parents, as well as their professional category. A quantitative methodology was applied on a sample of 792 primary school children, between 5 and 9 years of age, in three Spanish cities. The consumption of television, smartphones, tablets, computers and videogames was analyzed. Results indicate that, the lower the level of education and professional category of the mother, the greater the consumption of content through smart devices by children. The study demonstrates, there-fore, the importance of considering the educational and professional levels of mothers and fathers for a better understanding of the consumption of digital screens and, at the same time, as an opportunity for designing family strategies that encourage critical thinking and digital media education. La presencia y la variedad de dispositivos móviles en los hogares españoles, con independencia del contexto social y económico, es una realidad normalizada desde hace años. Diversos estudios se centran en la mediación parental en el consumo infantil de pantallas inteligentes, aunque existe una falta de evidencia científica sobre cómo el nivel de formación y el perfil profesional de las madres y de los padres inciden en las formas de consumo mediático digital de los menores. Este estudio analiza la influencia del nivel socioeducativo de las familias en el consumo de pantallas inteligentes. La investigación profundiza en el nivel de estudios de madres y padres, así como en su categoría profesional. Para ello se utiliza una metodología cuantitativa a partir de una muestra de 792 niños y niñas de primaria, de entre 5 y 9 años, de tres ciudades españolas. Se analiza el consumo de televisión, teléfonos móviles, tabletas, ordenadores y videojuegos. Los resultados señalan que, a menor nivel de estudios y menor categoría profesional de la madre, mayor es el consumo de contenidos a través de dispositivos móviles por parte de los menores. El estudio demuestra la importancia de considerar el nivel educativo y profesional de las madres y de los padres como oportunidad para entender mejor el consumo de pantallas inteligentes y para diseñar estrategias familiares que fomenten el pensamiento crítico y la educación mediática digital.

20 November 2017 in Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
EGEva Gómez-Colell
Eva Gómez-Colell
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
XRXavier Ramon
Xavier Ramon
The reality of women continues to be explained by the media from an androcentric perspective, despite a greater female presence in the public sphere. In the context of sports journalism, the media coverage of athletes is modest, even null. Qualitatively, information about women and their activity repeatedly refers to gender stereotypes. This is because both sport itself and sports journalism have been constructed as a predominantly male territory, where gender inequalities and gender bias have been legitimized. This research analyzes the front pages of the four most widely read sports journals in Spain (Marca, As, Mundo Deportivo and Sport) over a period of five years (2010-2015), the results of which reaffirm that "sport continues to exist, for and on men" (Cooky et al., 2013: 205).

16 October 2018 in Papers. Revista de Sociologia
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
IRInés Crosas Remón
Inés Crosas Remón
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
La ciberviolencia ejercida en contra de la mujer está emergiendo como un problema global. Los crecientes casos de youtuberas feministas acosadas en línea demuestran que esta agresión aumenta cuando afecta a una mujer que además es feminista. En este trabajo se pretende explorar el alcance y las estrategias de la ciberviolencia antifeminista presente en la sección de comentarios de YouTube. Para responder a este objetivo principal se parte de un estudio de caso: los comentarios que acompañan el vídeo Why I’m… a feminist, publicado por la youtubera estadounidense Laci Green (2014). Sobre estos, se realiza un análisis de contenido cualitativo cuya interpretación toma como referencia la teoría defendida por Cole (2015) y basada en el modelo de retórica disciplinaria de Foucault (1975). De acuerdo con los resultados, el «insulto», el «sarcasmo», la «imposición», el «deseo de dañar», la «objetivación sexual», la «criminalización/difamación» y la «amenaza» (tanto general como explícitamente sexual) constituyen mecanismos de coacción aplicados sistemáticamente para silenciar a la mujer feminista. Paralelamente, la incomprensión del feminismo, es decir, la defensa de una versión errónea y estereotipada del mismo, representa un patrón común con elevado potencial para promover situaciones de ciberviolencia futuras. La progresiva normalización de la ciberviolencia contra la mujer y antifeminista requiere una respuesta urgente. Además de medidas de concienciación social, una regulación más rigurosa de la red será imprescindible para que en el mundo virtual predominen el respeto y el empoderamiento, y no la violencia o la discriminación.

13 May 2020 in Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
XRXavier Ramon
Xavier Ramon
EGEva Gómez-Colell
Eva Gómez-Colell
MFMònica Figueras-Maz
Mònica Figueras-Maz
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
El periodismo deportivo es un ámbito caracterizado por la infrarrepresentación de la mujer deportista y la naturaleza sesgada de su tratamiento, así como por la segregación horizontal y vertical de las periodistas en las redacciones. Mediante la realización de 20 entrevistas semiestructuradas, se examina cómo las estudiantes universitarias en Cataluña perciben estas desigualdades y cómo manifiestan sus expectativas de futuro en este campo. También se ha entrevistado a 10 personas expertas en periodismo y género para ahondar en los retos a los que se enfrentan las nuevas generaciones de periodistas deportivas. Las participantes se perciben como outsiders (Hardin y Shain, 2006) y creen que su participación en el periodismo deportivo se interpretará desde los estereotipos. El artículo resalta la necesidad de ‘des-masculinizar’ y ampliar la diversidad en la formación académica, así como la importancia de romper el techo de cristal que impide a las mujeres llegar a cargos de decisión.

23 January 2018 in Young
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
MMMaria-Jose Masanet
Maria-Jose Masanet
PMPilar Medina-Bravo
Pilar Medina-Bravo
JFJoan Ferrés
Joan Ferrés
By analysing the fan forum of a popular Spanish teen series aimed at young people, Los Protegidos (2010–12), this study explores how stereotypical myths and beliefs about romantic love are maintained. The article interprets comments made by Spanish fans of the series about the reactions and behaviours of the leading couple. We found that fan forum participants evaluate the couple’s behaviour according to gender stereotypes. They justify the male character’s aggressive behaviour towards the female character and blame her for her mistreatment. Based on the analysis results, we reflect on the perpetuation of myths that justify violence in romantic relationships.