Understanding Why Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Join Diabetes Online Communities: Semantic Network Analyses.

BackgroundAs individuals age, chronic health difficulties may disrupt physical and social well-being. Individuals can turn to online communities to interact with similar peers, which may help buffer negative effects resulting from health difficulties.ObjectiveThis study investigated the reasons that older adults join a diabetes online community to better understand the specific resources that are being sought.MethodsWe used semantic network analyses to categorize the reasons participants provided for joining a community during the sign-up process.ResultsThe most frequent reasons for joining were to seek information about their health condition, to help with self-management of health difficulties, for feelings of informational and social support, and for having a community with whom to share. Women were more likely to go online for sharing and companionship as well as for information and social support reasons, whereas men were more likely to go online for general information and self-management reasons.ConclusionsThis study shows the reasons older adults seek to join a diabetes online community: for increased information and support regarding chronic health difficulties. Practitioners may want to consider ways to promote access to online communities among their older patients as a source of health information and a resource to provide a sense of community

From Seekers to Providers: Investigating the Transition of Participation Style in Online Health Communities

Online health communities (OHCs) enable community members to share informational and emotional support, enhancing their psychological and functional well-being. However, attrition of community membership has long hindered OHCs\u27 continuous development. Previous research suggests that social support providers, a particular participation style, tend to maintain longer community membership and demonstrate increased engagement in the community. This study aims to identify the factors that motivate members to transition from social support seekers to providers. Drawing on reciprocity and social norms, we hypothesize that community members who have received informational/emotional support or have been exposed to a higher proportion of such support are more likely to become informational/emotional providers. To validate these hypotheses, we will analyze data collected from a real OHC. Our findings will contribute to the contextualization of social support theory in OHC settings and offer practical guidance for enhancing community sustainability to OHC administrators

Learning Community for Postgraduate Learners in the Final Year Project Course of Open University Malaysia

The learning community approach offers a promising way to facilitate the learning process of postgraduate learners in their final year project course at the Open University Malaysia. This is important because the final project requires a substantial amount of commitment and needs to be carried out independently. Moreover, students often experience challenges that delay or prevent them from completing their projects. Therefore, integrating a learning community into the course to address administrative or academic matters with peers and faculty members assists progression and completion. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the learning community used by postgraduate learners for the final year project course. A survey was administered to 52 postgraduate learners and observation of the community site was conducted. The results were positive and encouraging, especially when learners tried to make sense of the learning community in order to be connected and motivated, to receive continuous support and to learn the required knowledge for the course. (Abstract by author

A Study of the Relationship Between Teachers’ Perception Towards Administrative Support and Their Decision-Making Styles in a Public Middle School, Guizhou Province, China

This study investigated the relationship between teachers’ perception towards administrative support and their decision-making styles in a public middle school, Guizhou Province, China. This study aimed (1) to identify the level of teachers’ perception towards administrative support; (2) to identify level of teachers’ perception of decision-making styles; (3) To determine the relationship between teachers’ perception towards administrative support and their decision-making styles in a public middle school in Guiyang, Guizhou province, China. The study had 81 respondents, all full-time teachers in the selected middle school and 100% of them responded to the survey. This research used Means and Standard Deviation to analyze the teachers’ perceptions toward the level of administrative support and their decision-making styles. Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation was used to test the relationship between the two variables. This study found that the teachers had a relatively positive attitude towards administrative support, the perception level in which teachers use decision-making styles was high, and there was a positive relationship between teachers’ perception toward administrative support and their decision-making styles

Making Space for Support: An Exploratory Analysis of Pandemic-Response Mutual Aid Platforms

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an era of unprecedented hardship across the United States. In response, local community members leveraged mutual aid as a form of citizen-based, peer-to-peer care. In this paper, we are interested in teasing out significant design features that support the facilitation of mutual aid on online platforms. To this end, we conducted a scenario-based claims analysis of the two most widely used platforms for mutual aid, based on three primary user groups. Our analysis suggests that design for mutual aid platforms considers features which support request standardization and balanced visibility alongside validation and conversational interaction

Mental Health Recovery Narratives and Their Impact on Recipients: Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.

OBJECTIVE: Mental health recovery narratives are often shared in peer support work and antistigma campaigns. Internet technology provides access to an almost unlimited number of narratives, and yet little is known about how they affect recipients. The aim of this study was to develop a conceptual framework characterizing the impact of recovery narratives on recipients. METHOD: A systematic review of evidence about the impact of mental health recovery narratives was conducted. Searches used electronic databases ( n = 9), reference tracking, hand-searching of selected journals ( n = 2), grey literature searching, and expert consultation ( n = 7). A conceptual framework was generated through a thematic analysis of included articles, augmented by consultation with a Lived Experience Advisory Panel. RESULTS: In total, 8137 articles were screened. Five articles were included. Forms of impact were connectedness, understanding of recovery, reduction in stigma, validation of personal experience, affective responses, and behavioural responses. Impact was moderated by characteristics of the recipient, context, and narrative. Increases in eating disorder behaviours were identified as a harmful response specific to recipients with eating disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health recovery narratives can promote recovery. Recovery narratives might be useful for clients with limited access to peers and in online interventions targeted at reducing social isolation in rural or remote locations, but support is needed for the processing of the strong emotions that can arise. Caution is needed for use with specific clinical populations. Protocol registration: Prospero-CRD42018090923

Exploring Dynamics of Facebook Health Support Groups: a Leadership Perspective

Online health support groups are among the most popular Internet groups, being employed daily to share and seek health-related information, support, and advice. The leaders of these groups often employ various strategies to encourage and regulate participation. In this work, using a mixed methods data collection and research methodology, we follow a health support group leadership framework to examine how the organic peer-leadership strategies grows in two distinct Facebook groups, both dedicated to patients with Sickle Cell Disease. Our results highlight how these organic leadership strategies follow the standard leadership frameworks in more traditional context. Our results also shows that different leadership strategies lead to different group dynamics in terms of level of interaction and content of the discussions

Predicting User Response and Support Activities in Virtual Health Support Communities

Despite growing emphasis on the factors affecting different types of supports users receive from virtual health support communities (VHSC), theoretical knowledge on how social awareness capabilities determine the extent of the support received is yet to be investigated. Adopting social awareness theory and using data collected from the COVID-19 support community on a large VHSC platform, we apply linguistic analysis to measure the impacts of three social awareness variables — social sensitivity, social insight, and social communication — on users’ response and support behaviors. The ordinary least square regression results show that social insight significantly influenced the number of replies to a post. In addition, results from the negative binomial regression also indicate that social sensitivity and social communication significantly predicted the number of support votes and thanks votes a user’s post received. The findings reveal some important research and practical implications on the need to facilitate social awareness in VHSC forums

The Impact of Membership Overlap on the Survival of Online Communities

Online communities play an important role in society. In this paper, we study the effects of membership overlap on the survival of online communities. By analyzing the historical data of 5673 Wikia communities, we find that higher levels of membership overlap are positively associated with greater survival rate of online communities. Furthermore, we find that it is beneficial for new communities to have shared members who play a central role in other mature communities. These findings provide new insight into an important mechanism underlying successful online communities, contribute to theories of organization science, and provide several actionable steps for the hosts and creators of online communities

Analyzing the impact of unemployment on mental health among Chinese university graduates: a study of emotional and linguistic patterns on Weibo

PurposeThis study explores the intricate relationship between unemployment rates and emotional responses among Chinese university graduates, analyzing how these factors correlate with specific linguistic features on the popular social media platform Sina Weibo. The goal is to uncover patterns that elucidate the psychological and emotional dimensions of unemployment challenges among this demographic.MethodsThe analysis utilized a dataset of 30,540 Sina Weibo posts containing specific keywords related to unemployment and anxiety, collected from January 2019 to June 2023. The posts were pre-processed to eliminate noise and refine the data quality. Linear regression and textual analyses were employed to identify correlations between unemployment rates for individuals aged 16–24 and the linguistic characteristics of the posts.ResultsThe study found significant fluctuations in urban youth unemployment rates, peaking at 21.3% in June 2023. A corresponding increase in anxiety-related expressions was noted in the social media posts, with peak expressions aligning with high unemployment rates. Linguistic analysis revealed that the category of “Affect” showed a strong positive correlation with unemployment rates, indicating increased emotional expression alongside rising unemployment. Other categories such as “Negative emotion” and “Sadness” also showed significant correlations, highlighting a robust relationship between economic challenges and emotional distress.ConclusionThe findings underscore the profound impact of unemployment on the emotional well-being of university students, suggesting that economic hardships are closely linked to psychological stress and heightened negative emotions. This study contributes to a holistic understanding of the socio-economic challenges faced by young adults, advocating for comprehensive support systems that address both the economic and psychological facets of unemployment