TrendGNN: Towards Understanding of Epidemics, Beliefs, and Behaviors

TL;DR

TrendGNN introduces an interpretable graph neural network framework to forecast and analyze the complex interplay between epidemics, human beliefs, and behaviors, aiding better understanding and intervention planning.

Contribution

It presents a novel graph-based forecasting method that constructs interrelated signals and applies GNNs for interpretability in modeling epidemic-related behaviors and beliefs.

Findings

Reveals which signals are more predictable

Identifies key relationships affecting forecast accuracy

Provides a framework for interpretable modeling of interdependent signals

Abstract

Epidemic outcomes have a complex interplay with human behavior and beliefs. Most of the forecasting literature has focused on the task of predicting epidemic signals using simple mechanistic models or black-box models, such as deep transformers, that ingest all available signals without offering interpretability. However, to better understand the mechanisms and predict the impact of interventions, we need the ability to forecast signals associated with beliefs and behaviors in an interpretable manner. In this work, we propose a graph-based forecasting framework that first constructs a graph of interrelated signals based on trend similarity, and then applies graph neural networks (GNNs) for prediction. This approach enables interpretable analysis by revealing which signals are more predictable and which relationships contribute most to forecasting accuracy. We believe our method provides early steps towards a framework for interpretable modeling in domains with multiple potentially interdependent signals, with implications for building future simulation models that integrate behavior, beliefs, and observations.