Predicting users' continued engagement in online health communities from the quantity and quality of received support

Author(s):  
Xiangyu Wang ◽  
Andrew High ◽  
Xi Wang ◽  
Kang Zhao
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Allgaier ◽  
Susana Veríssimo ◽  
Sherry Tan ◽  
Matthias Orlikowski ◽  
Matthias Hartung

We describe the use of Linguistic Linked Open Data (LLOD) to support a cross-lingual transfer framework for concept detection in online health communities. Our goal is to develop multilingual text analytics as an enabler for analyzing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) from self-reported patient narratives. The framework capitalizes on supervised cross-lingual projection methods, so that labeled training data for a source language are sufficient and are not needed for target languages. Cross-lingual supervision is provided by LLOD lexical resources to learn bilingual word embeddings that are simultaneously tuned to represent an inventory of HRQoL concepts based on the World Health Organization’s quality of life surveys (WHOQOL). We demonstrate that lexicon induction from LLOD resources is a powerful method that yields rich and informative lexical resources for the cross-lingual concept detection task which can outperform existing domain-specific lexica. Furthermore, in a comparative evaluation we find that our models based on bilingual word embeddings exhibit a high degree of complementarity with an approach that integrates machine translation and rule-based extraction algorithms. In a combined configuration, our models rival the performance of state-of-the-art cross-lingual transformers, despite being of considerably lower model complexity.


Author(s):  
Cheng Guo ◽  
Kelly Caine

Social Question & Answer (Q&A) sites are a unique source of health information that draw from personal, rather than professional experience. When people ask or answer questions about health using these sites, they may do so using their real name, or another type of identity such as pseudonymity (e.g., a username or nickname) or anonymity. People’s behavior may differ when they have a choice about which type of identity they choose, especially the context of different levels of sensitivity of content (e.g., health vs. non- health). In this work, we explore the relationship between different types of identity (e.g., anonymity and pseudonymity) and several Q&A metrics of user behavior on Yahoo Answers in the context of health and non-health content using path analysis. We find that health-related questions are more likely to be asked and answered anonymously. We also find that anonymous answers have more upvotes and downvotes than pseudonymous answers indicating more engagement. We conclude by suggesting that health Q&A sites and other online health communities may improve the quality of discussion by providing anonymity features and implementing moderation mechanisms.


Information ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Maestre ◽  
Susan Herring ◽  
Aehong Min ◽  
Ciabhan Connelly ◽  
Patrick Shih

Research is scarce on how direct and indirect support seeking strategies affect support exchange in online health communities. Moreover, prior research has relied mostly on content analysis of forum posts at the post level. In order to generate a more fine-grained analysis of support exchange, we conducted content analysis at the utterance level, taking directness of support seeking, quality of provision, forum type, and seeker gender into account. Our analysis of four popular online support forums for people living with human immunodeficiency virus found that type of support sought and provided, support seeking strategy, and quality of emotional support provision differed in care provider/formal forums versus social/informal forums. Interestingly, indirect support seeking tended to elicit more supportive emotional responses than direct support seeking strategies in all forums; we account for this in terms of type of support sought. Practical implications for online support communities are discussed.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Amoozegar ◽  
Douglas Rupert ◽  
Jennifer Gard Read ◽  
Rebecca Moultrie ◽  
Kathryn Aikin ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
К. А. Галкин

Ситуация пандемии COVID-19 в очередной раз напомнила о необходимости использования онлайн-сообществ здоровья, особенно в тех районах, где не хватает мест в местных больницах или существуют проблемы с получением качественной медицинской помощи. Это, например, сельские районы, где медицина ориентирована на лечение экстренно возникающих заболеваний и у врачей существуют сложности с возможностью лечения новой коронавирусной инфекции. Онлайн-сообщества здоровья в таком случае предоставляют возможность узнать необходимую информацию, а также общаться со специалистами, которые знают особенности нового коронавируса и могут дать необходимые советы. В настоящей статье на примере глубинных интервью с пожилыми людьми из сёл Ленинградской обл. и Республики Карелия рассмотрена роль телемедицины для пожилых людей и общения в онлайн-сообществах здоровья в контексте преодоления одиночества и изолированности, которая существует в сельской местности. В статье проанализированы особенности и основные препятствия для использования пожилыми людьми телемедицины и общения в онлайнсообществах здоровья - это проблемы с инфраструктурой и отключением электричества, отсутствие у пожилых людей компьютерной грамотности для общения и взаимодействия в онлайн-сообществах здоровья. Роль последних рассмотрена с точки зрения развития самозаботы пожилых людей в сельской местности в периферийных поселениях из-за отсутствия необходимой медицинской помощи. The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has once again reminded of the need to use telemedicine and online health communities, especially in areas where there are not enough places in local hospitals or there are problems with obtaining quality medical care, such as rural areas where rural medicine is focused on treatment of emergency diseases and doctors have difficulties with the possibility of treatment, as well as explaining about the new coronavirus infection to patients and how this disease can be treated. In this case, online health communities provide an opportunity to find out the necessary information, as well as communicate with specialists who know the features of the new coronavirus and can give the necessary advice. Using the example of in-depth interviews with older people from villages in the Leningrad Region and the Republic of Karelia, the article examines the role of telemedicine for older people and communication in online health communities in the context of overcoming loneliness and isolation that exist in rural areas. The article analyzes the features of the use of telemedicine and the key barriers to the use of telemedicine and communication of older people in online disease communities. In rural areas the main barriers to telemedicine use are infrastructure problems and power outages, as well as the lack of computer literacy for communication and elder people’s interaction in online health communities. In the article the role of online health communities is considered in the context of the self-care of older people and from the point of view of the development of self-care of older people in rural peripheral settlements due to the lack of necessary medical care.


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