Evaluating the Information Usefulness of Online Health Information for Third-party Patients

Online health interactions (OHIs) can benefit patients, physicians, and society. However, little research has been conducted that studies the social value of OHIs for third-party patients who view previous OHIs concerning similar health issues to theirs. Drawing on the literature on social support and information uncertainty, this study established a theoretical model to explore the roles of treatment information, prevention information, and emotional support in determining information usefulness perceived by third-party patients, and whether such relationships are contingent on information uncertainty. The model was tested using “health questions and answers” textual data from 1,848 OHIs. The results indicate that prevention information and emotional support significantly improve information usefulness perceived by third-party patients. When the level of information uncertainty regarding physicians’ replies is high, the effect of treatment information is strengthened and the effect of emotional support is weakened, indicating both positive and negative contingent roles of information uncertainty. This study has implications for practitioners and also contributes to the literature on online health information, social support, information science, and information uncertainty

“With A Little Help From My (Online?) Friends” – A Comparison of Support Seeking, Receiving and Providing Support in Online and Offline Communities

Social networking services (SNS) like Facebook are used by an increasing number of people worldwide for social exchange. Given the amount of time that is spent on these online services, they are likely to have an impact on how individuals interact with each other. On this note, anecdotal examples emphasize both positive (i.e., expanding or strengthening relationships) and negative effects (i.e., bullying, feelings of disconnectedness). To shed more light on this issue, scholars from various disciplines have started to investigate the significance of social networking services on interpersonal relationships and on how individuals might experience benefits on the one hand, or face challenges through the use of online services on the other hand [1, 2]. One research interest that has gained significant attention in recent years is the analysis of effects that social networks may have on the quantity and quality of interpersonal online social support in different contexts. [... from the introduction

“The end justifies the memes”: A feminist relational discourse analysis of the role of macro memes in facilitating supportive discussions for victim-survivors of narcissistic abuse

This article reports the results of a qualitative study which aimed to investigate the role of internet memes in facilitating supportive discussions among women on an online platform concerning narcissistic abuse. Narcissistic abuse is an under-recognised form of abuse underpinning experiences of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence. The study focuses upon women’s communication through the use of Facebook memes. Studying these and their associated content/posts is important for examining narcissistic abuse experiences because memes have been identified as immediate conveyors of meaning, and associated posts and comments provide rich data that can generate new findings pertinent to abuse and support experiences. A total of 4 public Facebook pages concerning narcissistic abuse were used to analyse 100 memes and their attached comments/posts, which ranged from 15 to 175 per meme with an arithmetic mean of 39.4. Employing a feminist relational discourse analysis (FRDA) framework, the data were categorised in terms of thematic frames and dominant discourses of victim-survivors. The analysis identified how community-specific Facebook pages assisted help-seeking discussions and expressions of distress. It also suggested that memes function as speech acts to discursively shape online conversations related to experiences of narcissistic abuse. As immediate conveyors of meaning, memes facilitated emotional expression to provide psychosocial support and a form of feminist activism to those who experienced feelings of isolation and marginalisation within broader political, psychological, and social contexts

UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION USE IN ONLINE CONSUMER-HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS: A LOOK INTO INTERACTIVE HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS

UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION USE IN ONLINE CONSUMER HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS: A LOOK INTO INTERACTIVE HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS The exponential growth of the Internet in the past two decades has been accompanied by an increased interest by Internet users in communicating among each other electronically about all sorts of topics, including health-related issues. This increased interest in peer-to-peer communication for health topics raised lots of questions about the potential harmful effects of these communications on those participants who might take some health-related action without consulting with a doctor first. This potential problem has motivated the researcher to investigate how people with certain health conditions use health information that they obtain from online support groups. Even though the understanding of how information is sought, retrieved, and ultimately used is a very important topic within information behavior research, information use is an area that has seen less study. For this reason, the researcher decided to investigate information use within online consumer health support groups using a content analytical approach. The study had two specific objectives: (a) to describe what some of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral actions that consumers indicate they had taken based on information shared within some of the online support groups to which they belong; and (b) to determine if the uses given to information follow any pattern among different chronic conditions being studied with relation to the type of questions asked, the type of reply messages, and the health-related content of the messages. Methodologically, the study used computer-mediated discourse analysis to guide collection of trace data that came from archives of selected online discussion boards related to the three chronic conditions chosen for the study. For data to be part of the study, the presence of interactions with indications of usefulness was necessary. Then, through content analysis, the data was coded using several classification schemas found in the literature, some of them in their original form, others adapted to fit this research purpose. These schemas looked into the types of questions asked, the functions of the reply messages, the type of medical content of the posted messages, and the type of use given to the information. Once all the data was processed, the researcher looked for patterns among the different variables and across the different gender-based chronic conditions. Results of the analysis show that the message characteristics of content type, function of reply messages, and question types, have a significant relationship with the types of conditions. Message characteristics also show a significant relationship with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral information uses. Discussions of the results as well as some alternatives for future research are presented. Enter Abstract here late

Investigating and Supporting Sensemaking within Online Health Communities

This dissertation focuses on understanding and supporting individual and collective sensemaking within online health communities (OHCs). This major goal was achieved in three aims. In Aim 1, this dissertation contributes a rich descriptive account of collective sensemaking in OHCs forums by describing how it occurs and develops, what triggers it, what elements constitute collective construction of meaning, and what conversational moves positively contribute to this process. Further, it describes how collective sensemaking in OHCs is impacted by the interplay between informational and socio-emotional needs of OHCs members. Moreover, it examines how design of different social computing platforms influences OHCs members’ ability to meet their informational and socio-emotional needs and engage in collective sensemaking. In Aim 2, this dissertation explores the design space of tools for supporting individual sensemaking through optimized information access. Through the design and evaluation of a prototype DisVis it examines the impact of such tools on OHCs members’ ability to understand information within discussion threads. In the final Aim 3, this dissertation proposes a novel approach for meeting the three main needs identified in Aims 1 and 2: promoting individual sensemaking, while at the same time encouraging collective sensemaking, and facilitating development of social awareness and ties among community members. The design and evaluation of the novel solution for visualizing discussion threads that synergistically addresses these three needs—dSense—provides insights for future research and design of interactive solutions for supporting individual and collective sensemaking within OHCs

Identifying Emotional and Informational Support in Online Health Communities

This paper analyses user messages on an online cancer support community, Cancer Survivors Network (CSN), to identify the two types of social support present: emotional support and informational support

User experiences of online community support for mental ill health

This doctoral study explores the use of online user-led community support forums for people with diagnosed and self-diagnosed mental ill health. The study is a qualitative analysis of three online forums and four semi-structured interviews incorporating twenty-nine participants. There is a lack of research into online communities using multiple methods, and my study uses two methods, virtual ethnography and semi-structured interviews, to ensure that there is a breadth and diversity to the research, allowing participants to choose different ways to participate. The thesis is framed within the context of austerity measures in the United Kingdom, and cuts in funding for many aspects of mental health social care. Negative attitudes to mental health issues by members of society and policymakers can lead to an increase in people isolated through lack of formal service support. The study explores the use of a particular form of support, online community support forums, an area that is currently experiencing a growth in research. My original contribution to knowledge is that peer-to-peer online communities enable people to construct their own mental health narrative by combining the lived experience of others with their own experience. By doing so, people can escape the social labelling, the stigma, and recreate a sense of self out of, or detached from, the medical and social discourses. This study highlighted how online forums can restore sociality and how online communities help people to clarify their own mental health narrative. As such, online forums and communities contribute to and are a new aspect of the health pathway. This research therefore, helps to inform gaps in health pathways, so that more suitable, cost-effective online resources can be created to reduce the effects of mental illness and support those who are unable to find support elsewhere