The sentence continues: Breaking silences and becoming authors through The Semicolon Project

Through its many digital platforms, The Semicolon Project, a suicide and self-harm prevention initiative, offers its users a creative means of using writing to heal. As its name suggests, the semicolon is an essential mark for this group—grammatically a semicolon represents a place in the sentence that an author could have ended and for the members of this prevention initiative, the semicolon acts in a similar way. By tattooing or drawing a semicolon on the body, the semicolon bearer embody a sense of authorial agency, positioning herself as author and using the semicolon as a representation of her dedication to continue the sentence that is her life. In this small though significant way, the tattoo bearer engages in a form of narrative therapy that enables healing to take place, thus enabling the individual to move away from self-injurious behavior and find more positive means of coping with moments of emotional distress. Though these negative coping mechanisms plague individuals all over the world, the lack of societal discourse surrounding these issues prevents many from seeking the help needed to overcome these struggles. Even today, many of those battling mental illness or self-injurious behavior remain voiceless—silenced by stigma and fear of societal backlash, rejection, even shame. The Semicolon Project aims to provide one outlet for these voices—a safe space that encourages candid sharing and employs writing as a means of healing. Using two separate theories, this project analyzes the writing left on The Semicolon Project’s Facebook page. The first uses theories of material rhetoric to shed light on the rhetorical significance of the semicolon tattoo, both as a performance and as a material product. The second approach applies narrative therapy to the tattoo bearers’ verbal and visual Facebook posts, analyzing how these images and reflective comments enable tattoo bearers to heal from personal trauma. Analyzing the users’ writing practices in this space can help to determine why this initiative is successful and how these successes might be replicated in future organizations

Cyber psychology - Overview of key research areas and findings

Od njezinog prvog službenog spominjanja (sredinom 90-ih godina) do danas Cyber se psihologija prometnula u jedno od najpropulzivnijih istraživačkih područja psihologije. Iako se konceptualno naslanja na psihologiju medija, te čini svojevrsnu njezinu ekstenziju, specifičnosti interakcije ljudi s novim tehnologijama stvorile su potrebu za novim teorijskim okvirima i istraživanjima. U ovom preglednom radu detaljnije su prikazana najčešće istraživana područja, ujedno i manje zastupljena u domaćoj literaturi. To su područja motiva i obrazaca korištenja novih tehnologija kod različitih korisnika, karakteristika kompjutorski posredovane komunikacije, stvaranja online identiteta i online samorazotkrivanja, te povezanosti korištenja tehnologija s dobrobiti. Iako su ponegdje zamjetni proturječni empirijski nalazi, sve veći broj metaanaliza polako pomaže uspostavi općih zaključaka, sugerirajući pritom iznimnu kompleksnost pitanja utjecaja novih tehnologija na ponašanje i doživljavanje pojedinca.From its first official mention (in the mid-90s) to the present day, Cyber psychology has emerged as one of the most propulsive research areas of psychology. Although it conceptually relies on the psychology of the media, and is somewise its extension, the specifics of human interaction with new technologies have created the need for new theoretical frameworks and empirical research. This review paper presents in more detail the most frequently researched areas, which are also less represented in the Croatian literature. These are the areas of motives and patterns of using new technologies among users with different characteristics, the specifics of computer mediated communication, the creation of online identity and online self-disclosure, and the relation between the use of technology and well-being. Although sometimes contradictory empirical findings are noticeable, an increasing number of meta-analyses slowly help to establish general conclusions, at the same time suggesting the exceptional complexity of the issue of the new technology influence on the mind and behavior of the individual

Antecedents of online community commitment and its effect on behavioural intentions in China

Social media has captured a major part of people’s daily communication in recent years. As an important component of social media platform, online communities has attracted remarkable popularity and has greatly influenced the normal people’s lives. Both researchers and practitioners have predicted this phenomenon will bring new opportunities and challenges to the business. However, due to the new social media phenomenon, research in this field is yet to mature. In addition, because of online community’s virtual features and low switching cost, members frequently join and leave the communities. Therefore, previous researches have highlighted factors that influence customers’ online community engagement and commitment from different perspective. After reviewing the existing literature related to the antecedents of online community commitment, this study aims to study what are the core factors that may influence online community members’ commitment and how it shapes their behavioural intentions. To facilitate this research objective, this study proposes a holistic model with five hypotheses to explore antecedents of online community commitment from three aspects: personal influences, social influences, and online community characteristics based on Relationship Marketing Theory, Social Influence Model, and Framework of Community Characteristics. In addition, this study tests the effects of online community commitment on members’ behavioural intentions. Lastly, this study stresses on adopting advertising as a moderating factor to investigate the moderating role of advertising on the relationship of online community commitment and behavioural intentions. To initiate this research, an online survey approach was taken. A total of 999 validated questionnaires were collected from ten top maternal and baby care related online communities in China, which were selected based on the ranking from http://top.chinaz.com. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the collected data. Overall, the results indicated that the proposed holistic model of online community commitment fulfil the principles of a parsimonious model with good predictive ability. The results also show that the collected data fits the proposed model well and support all the proposed hypotheses except H5. Specifically, the results revealed that personal influences, social influences, and online community characteristics gave positive effects on online community commitment. In addition, online community commitment also positively influences the members’ behavioural intentions. However, the impact of online community commitment on behavioural intentions moderated by the level of advertising was not supported. Overall, this study proposed and tested a holistic model of online community commitment which has a theoretical significance and also enhance understanding of consumer behaviour in online communities in China, especially in maternal and baby care related industry

A comparison of empathic communication pattern for teenagers and older people in online support communities

This article reports a study that investigated the occurrences of empathy in online support communities for teenagers. Qualitative content analysis with 400 messages from a discussion board about depression was used to identify how empathy was expressed in the specific online communication. Emphasis was also placed on the comparison of this age group to older people, by comparing the results with those from a previous study on empathy in an online support community about depression for older people. Specifically, the analysis focused on the frequencies of the categories of the code scheme, linguistic characteristics of the communication content, the occurring components of empathy, and the roles as well as activities of the members. From our analysis, we concluded that young people exchanged a substantial amount of empathic emotional communication when participating in an online support community, and they communicated on a more personal level compared to older people, who tended to engage in a more formal communication. In addition, teenagers also showed a high level of understanding but lower level of concern compared to older persons when expressing empathy online

Expressions of Concern and Social Support about Reproductive Care for Young Women on an Online Message Board

The experience of a pelvic exam or Pap smear is something that, while necessary to maintain reproductive health, can be fraught with difficulty for women. Ouj, Igberase, Exe, and Ejikeme (2011) note that “[m]ost women feel a level of discomfort or pain and for some it is embarrassing, dehumanizing, degrading and associated with fear, anxiety and apprehension” (p. 637). However, little recent research has focused on the specific communication surrounding reproductive care for young women. The Internet is a common place for young people to seek health information, understand their own health risks, and seek social support from others. The current study utilizes information gleaned from the archives of an internet message board and sexual education website to examine the way that young women communicate about reproductive health care, risk, and social support with experts and peers in the online community. Results indicate that young women request, seek, and receive several different types of social support in the online community. Further, themes illuminate the complex nature of women’s concerns about potential risk and reproductive care

Evidence of Emotional Intelligence in College Presidents’ Public Writing: Does Their Emotional Intelligence Change Over Time?

Higher education (HIED) presidents face a wide variety of competing demands and pressures. High emotional intelligence (EI) has been found to be effective in good leadership, but few studies exist which examine HIED presidents’ EI. This quantitative growth model study attempted to expand the understanding of EI and its source of change among HIED presidents. Several conceptualizations link together in this study to better understand HIED presidents’ EI. First, higher EI has been linked to strong leadership and strong communication. Studies show EI can change over time and EI is associated with certain demographic factors. Further, language, particularly written language, has been found to reveal characteristics of a persons’ personality. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a person’s personality through their writing can be effectively identified. LIWC has also identified writers’ Big Five personality traits more frequently than their EI. Finally, because most EI assessments are widely criticized, this study used a categorical-dynamic index derived from the Big Five as an EI proxy. This study examined the public writings of HIED presidents created every six months over 2.5-years to better understand EI, its change, and its moderators in HIED presidents. The study found that while EI was significantly different among HIED presidents, it did not significantly change over the 2.5 years. Further, while six moderators were examined, only institutional size was significant. Potential reasons for the lack of significance among these findings are that without targeted EI training, 2.5 years is not enough time to find a significant change in EI. In addition, the sample sizes within each moderator were too small to find significance. The hope is that this study will inspire other researchers to look further into HIED presidents’ EI, presidents who feel like they can improve will seek EI training, and institutions of HIED will consider candidates’ EI levels when selecting their next executive leader

Evidence of Emotional Intelligence in College Presidents’ Public Writing: Does Their Emotional Intelligence Change Over Time?

Higher education (HIED) presidents face a wide variety of competing demands and pressures. High emotional intelligence (EI) has been found to be effective in good leadership, but few studies exist which examine HIED presidents’ EI. This quantitative growth model study attempted to expand the understanding of EI and its source of change among HIED presidents. Several conceptualizations link together in this study to better understand HIED presidents’ EI. First, higher EI has been linked to strong leadership and strong communication. Studies show EI can change over time and EI is associated with certain demographic factors. Further, language, particularly written language, has been found to reveal characteristics of a persons’ personality. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a person’s personality through their writing can be effectively identified. LIWC has also identified writers’ Big Five personality traits more frequently than their EI. Finally, because most EI assessments are widely criticized, this study used a categorical-dynamic index derived from the Big Five as an EI proxy. This study examined the public writings of HIED presidents created every six months over 2.5-years to better understand EI, its change, and its moderators in HIED presidents. The study found that while EI was significantly different among HIED presidents, it did not significantly change over the 2.5 years. Further, while six moderators were examined, only institutional size was significant. Potential reasons for the lack of significance among these findings are that without targeted EI training, 2.5 years is not enough time to find a significant change in EI. In addition, the sample sizes within each moderator were too small to find significance. The hope is that this study will inspire other researchers to look further into HIED presidents’ EI, presidents who feel like they can improve will seek EI training, and institutions of HIED will consider candidates’ EI levels when selecting their next executive leader

Online social support: an exploratory study of breastfeeding women’s use of internet and mobile applications to obtain peer support

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Online social support is reported to be used by a number of people to obtain social interaction and exchange communication as a way to buffer stressful situations. Breastfeeding women experience a significant change in their lives and routine which a number of women find it stressful for various reasons. Research shows that breastfeeding women use the Internet to obtain support, however little is known about how breastfeeding women use online social support and their perceptions, concerns and expectations about using it. An interpretive approach using qualitative methods was adopted in this research to obtain and analyse the data acquired through interviews and observations. The framework proposed by the Social Cognitive theory was used to conduct this research and to provide insights into online social support in a breastfeeding peer support context. The results in this research indicate that in spite of face-to-face interventions being favoured, online social support is perceived as a helpful alternative support with the potential to positively influence breastfeeding self-efficacy. A number of similar characteristics of face-to-face support were found to be present in online social support, such as emotional and informational support, empathy and empowerment. Online social support was perceived as offering additional features to traditional support including convenience of use, connection with peers and supporters at any time of the day, and the opportunity to express emotions and issues textually. Certain concerns were also associated to using online social support to support breastfeeding women, which need to be taken into consideration by providers of online social support. These included the need for training volunteers in this type of media, confidentiality and trustworthiness of the information available online and issues related to digital divide. These findings are useful to further the understanding of the implications of online social support in self-efficacy and the associated outcomes. Policy makers, social scientists and breastfeeding support organisations can use the findings in this research to develop future breastfeeding promotion strategies and interventions. Ultimately, breastfeeding women benefit from the findings of this research, through the implementation of online social support interventions addressing the issues raised in this research. These women will consequently have access to more services and applications, as well as engage with volunteers or clinicians trained to fulfil their needs over an alternative channel