The Impact of Cybervictimization on the Self-Management of Chronic Conditions:Lived Experiences

BackgroundCybervictimization of people with long-term conditions is a disturbing phenomenon with a documented impact on health and well-being. These experiences are primarily examined using quantitative methods, focusing on children and young people. However, research centered on the cybervictimization of adults with chronic conditions is scarce, with limited qualitative input from the victims as experts in their own experiences. ObjectiveThis study aims to understand the impact of cybervictimization on the self-management of long-term conditions among adults with chronic conditions and disabilities in the United Kingdom. MethodsThis paper reports the findings from the qualitative phase of a phenomenologically informed mixed methods study. The biographical disruption concept was used to conceptualize the study. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 participants with chronic conditions who experienced cybervictimization. A codebook was developed, and a zigzag approach to thematic analysis was used to define and refine themes. Ethical considerations and risk assessment were ongoing during the research process because of the sensitivity of the topic and cases of harassment. ResultsCybervictimization has direct and indirect impacts on the self-management of chronic conditions. This impact was verified across 6 overarching themes that emerged from this study. First, biomedical events included overall health deterioration because of existing conditions, new diagnoses, and subjective physical complaints. Second, the impact on mental health was perceived through psychological consequences and psychiatric disorders that developed after or during this traumatic experience. Third, the multilevel impact theme focused on disrupting the strategies for coping with health conditions and involved unplanned changes to victims’ health management priorities. Fourth, the impact of complexity reflected the perceived uniqueness in each case, intersectionality, struggle to obtain formal support, and subsequent health complications. Fifth, social network involvement comprised the effects of social isolation, victim blaming, and deception. Finally, the disability discrimination theme focused on prejudice, issues on inclusion, and hostility in society, with subsequent effects on well-being. ConclusionsPeople with long-term conditions experienced different forms of cybervictimization, all disruptive with various effects on health. Disability discrimination was a prominent finding to be further investigated. This paper reports the impact as themes to guide further research and practice, with the recognition that long-term conditions and impairments are not a homogeneous group. Despite the devastating consequences, there are positive points that strengthen potential interventions. Awareness-raising campaigns, training of support channels, and multidisciplinary research are recommended to tackle this issue and initiate change

‘The language is disgusting and they refer to my disability’: the cyberharassment of disabled people

Disabled people face hostility and harassment in their sociocultural environment. The use of electronic-communications creates an online context that further reshape this discrimination. We explored the experiences of 19 disabled victims of cyberharassment. Five themes emerged from the study: disability and health consequences, family involvement, misrepresentation of self, perceived complexity, and lack of awareness and expertise. Cyberharassment incidents against disabled people were influenced by the pre-existing impairment, perceived hate-targeting, and perpetrators faking disability to get closer to victims online. Our findings highlight a growing issue requiring action and proper support

Challenges facing online research: Experiences from research concerning cyber-victimisation of people with disabilities

The victimisation of people living with disabilities and chronic conditions is a documented phenomenon. It ranges from harassment incidents to disability hate crimes, and causes physical, mental and psychosocial consequences. The Internet has further reshaped this phenomenon which lead to “cyber-victimisation” experiences, with no less impact upon victims. This methodology paper focuses mainly on the challenges and implications of using online methods in a UK-based study exploring the impact of cyber-victimisation on people coping with disabilities and chronic conditions. Mixed-method design was adopted via an online-survey followed by in-depth interviewing of victims. Online recruitment was through victim-support groups, patient-support groups, and social media. Out of 80 organisations and charities approached, 51(63.8%) gatekeepers helped to reach participants. Recruitment and data collection process was challenged by four overarching themes: 1) social identity in online support groups, 2) the role of online gatekeepers, 3) the contradictory role of social media, and 4) promoting inclusivity. These challenges were theorised from the perspective of the Social Identity Theory. Representing self as a victim and/or a disabled-person had its implications on virtual groups’ membership, social media use, gatekeepers’ decisions and subsequent participation. Some identity aspects were highlighted as positive points to improve engagement with research. In conclusion, the Internet has aggravated the vulnerability of people with disabilities, but it also has a huge potential in researching sensitive topics with this group. Future research in the cyberspace should acknowledge the challenges of online identities of disabled victimised people, and focus on positive identity aspects to facilitate the research process and encourage collaborative participation at early stages of research

Cyber-Victimization of People With Chronic Conditions and Disabilities: A Systematic Review of Scope and Impact

The victimization of individuals with chronic conditions or disabilities is prevalent with severe impact at psychological and physiological levels. With the increasing use of technology these experiences were further reshaped. This systematic review aimed at scoping the experiences of cyber-victimization of people living with chronic conditions or disabilities and examine the documented impact on them. Following a four-stage search strategy in several databases including MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane and snowballing of references, a total of 2,922 studies were scanned and 10 studies were eventually included. Quality assessment was done in two phases using tools specific to observational studies and cyber-victimization research. A narrative synthesis of reported results covered a total of 3,070 people. Sample size ranged between 42 and 823 participants, and the age range was 6-71 years with a majority of White ethnic backgrounds. Most studies (n=9) were cross sectional. The prevalence range of cyber-victimization was 2%-41.7% based on variable definitions, duration and methods. Targeted conditions included physical impairments, intellectual disabilities and specific chronic diseases. The most common documented impact was psychological/psychiatric, mainly depression followed by anxiety and distress. Somatic health complaints and self-harm were also reported. We concluded that people with chronic conditions and disabilities were consistently at higher risk of victimization with devastating health complications. Research gaps were identified such as the need to address more conditions and acknowledge differences between heterogeneous health conditions. Other recommendations include allowing flexibility and accountability to patients/victims in research design, education on victimization and health consequences, and improving primary care

Cyberstalking: Investigating formal intervention and the role of Corporate Social Responsibility

Context Online harassment and stalking have been identified with growing accordance as anti-social behaviours, potentially with extreme consequences including indirect or direct physical injury, emotional distress and/or financial loss. Objective As part of our ongoing work to research and establish better understanding of cyberstalking, this study aims to investigate the role of Police, Mobile Operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and owners/administrators of online platforms (e.g. websites, chatrooms) in terms of intervention in response to offences. We ask to what different authorities do people report incidents of cyberstalking? Do these authorities provide satisfactory responses or interventions? And how can this be improved? Furthermore, we discuss the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to encourage the implementation of cyberstalking-aware schemes by service providers to support victims. In addition, CSR can be used as a means to measure the effects of externality factor in dictating the relationship between the impact of a given individuals’ privacy loss and strategic decisions on investment to security controls in an organisational context. Method A mixed method design has been used in this study. Data collection took place by means of an online survey made available for three years to record both qualitative and quantitative data. Overall, 305 participants responded from which 274 identified themselves as victims of online harassment. Result Our results suggest that most offences were communicated through private channels such as emails and/or mobile texts/calls. A significant number of victims did not report this to their service provider because they did not know they could. While Police were recognised as the first-point-of-contact in such cases, 41.6% of our sample did not contact the Police due to reasons such as fear of escalation, guilt/sympathy and self-blaming. Experiences from those who have reported offences to service providers demonstrate that no or very little support was offered. Overall, the majority of participants shared the view that third-party intervention is required on their behalf in order to mitigate risks associated with cyberstalking. An independent specialist anti-stalking organisation was a popular choice to act on their behalf followed by the Police and network providers. Conclusion Incidents are taking place on channels owned and controlled by large, cross-border international companies providing mobile services, webmail and social networking. The lack of support offered to victims in many cases of cyberstalking can be identified as Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI). We anticipate that awareness should be raised as regarding service providers’ liability and social responsibility towards adopting better strategies

Cyber-disability hate cases in the UK: the documentation by the police and potential barriers to reporting

This is an accepted manuscript of an article due to be published by Springer in Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications on 21 May 2021. The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Disability hate crime is under-reported in the UK with perceived lim-ited support given to the victims. The use of online communication resulted in cyber-disability hate cases, recognised by the Police with the addition of an ‘online-flag’ in the documentation. However, the cases remain under-reported, with potential individual, societal and organisational barriers to reporting espe-cially during a pandemic. This paper aims to contextualise the reporting of cyber-disability hate cases, identify potential barriers, and provide recommendations to improve support to victims by the Police. The retrospective examination was car-ried out on disability-related cyber incidents documented by a police force in the UK for 19 months. Among 3,349 cyber-crimes, 23 cases were included. The anal-ysis covered descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis (QDA). Only 0.7% of cyber incidents or 6.7% of cyber-hate incidents were disability re-lated. The age of victims ranged between 15 and 61 years, with a mean of 25.8 years. Most of the victims (78%) were from White ethnic background, and the majority were females (61.5%). Three overarching themes emerged from the qualitative data as influencers of reporting or documentation, these were: psy-chological impact, fear for safety, and the type of disability. Cyber-offences re-sulted in a serious impact on wellbeing, however, cases that included people with visible disabilities were more documented. Further awareness-raising targeting the police and public is needed to understand the impact of cyber-offences and recognise the different types of disabilities, which might encourage both report-ing and documentation

Cyber victimisation of people with chronic conditions and disabilities: a systematic review of scope and impact

The victimization of individuals with chronic conditions or disabilities is prevalent with severe impact at psychological and physiological levels. With the increasing use of technology these experiences were further reshaped. This systematic review aimed at scoping the experiences of cyber-victimization of people living with chronic conditions or disabilities and examine the documented impact on them. Following a four-stage search strategy in several databases including MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane and snowballing of references, a total of 2,922 studies were scanned and 10 studies were eventually included. Quality assessment was done in two phases using tools specific to observational studies and cyber-victimization research. A narrative synthesis of reported results covered a total of 3,070 people. Sample size ranged between 42 and 823 participants, and the age range was 6-71 years with a majority of White ethnic backgrounds. Most studies (n=9) were cross sectional. The prevalence range of cyber-victimization was 2%-41.7% based on variable definitions, duration and methods. Targeted conditions included physical impairments, intellectual disabilities and specific chronic diseases. The most common documented impact was psychological/psychiatric, mainly depression followed by anxiety and distress. Somatic health complaints and self-harm were also reported. We concluded that people with chronic conditions and disabilities were consistently at higher risk of victimization with devastating health complications. Research gaps were identified such as the need to address more conditions and acknowledge differences between heterogeneous health conditions. Other recommendations include allowing flexibility and accountability to patients/victims in research design, education on victimization and health consequences, and improving primary care