Analyzing Influence of Epidemic Policy Adjustment on Public Concerns and Emotional Feedback Using the ABSA Approach

Based on the aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA), this paper proposed a topic clustering extension method that integrated LDA topic information and BERT context information, constructed the topics and their keyword sequences of microblog comments related to the epidemic policy, and obtained different emotional polarity of those comments on different aspects. Then, based on the Smith policy implementation process model, an empirical model was built to explore the mechanism of different factors in the process of epidemic policy implementation on public emotion. The results turned out that: (1) With the adjustment and optimization of the epidemic policy, the public emotional feedback showed a temporary peak of positive emotion first, followed by a gradual disappearance or a stronger peak of negative emotion; (2) At different stages of epidemic policy, the public concerns were different, but the negative emotion was overwhelming; (3) In the process of the epidemic policy implementation, the construction of medical resources environment was of great significance. The low accessibility of epidemic prevention resources could significantly weaken the performance of personal health protection self-efficacy and indirectly trigger negative emotion; (4) The comprehensive effectiveness of information content and the timely accuracy of information quality could indirectly promote positive emotional feedback by enhancing the self-efficacy for health protection of target groups and improving the government image.