scholarly journals Insights on mental health when living with r/Rheumatoid r/Thritis: A descriptive qualitative study of Reddit threads

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Yea Eun Park ◽  
Alyssa M. Howren ◽  
Eileen Davidson ◽  
Mary A De Vera

Abstract Background: Online forums, where individuals ask questions, discuss opinions and share experiences provide a valuable pool of publicly available data to better understand impacts of disease and associated complications. Reddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health. Methods: We conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, “r/Thritis” and “r/Rheumatoid”, using keywords such as “mood”, “mental health”, “stressed”, “depressed”, “anxious” over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results: Of 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss, touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death.Conclusions: Online forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Yea Eun Park ◽  
Alyssa M. Howren ◽  
Eileen Davidson ◽  
Mary A De Vera

Abstract Background Online forums, where individuals ask questions, discuss opinions and share experiences provide a valuable pool of publicly available data to better understand impacts of disease and associated complications. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health. Methods We conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, “r/Thritis” and “r/Rheumatoid”, using keywords such as “mood”, “mental health”, “stressed”, “depressed”, “anxious” over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results Of 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss, touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death. Conclusions Online forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Y. E. Park ◽  
Alyssa M. Howren ◽  
Eileen Davidson ◽  
Mary A. De Vera

Abstract Background Reddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health. Methods We conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, “r/Thritis” and “r/Rheumatoid”, using keywords such as “mood”, “mental health”, “stressed”, “depressed”, “anxious” over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results Of 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss, touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death. Conclusions Online forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Yea Eun Park ◽  
Alyssa M. Howren ◽  
Eileen Davidson ◽  
Mary A De Vera

Abstract Background: Reddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health. Methods: We conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, “r/Thritis” and “r/Rheumatoid”, using keywords such as “mood”, “mental health”, “stressed”, “depressed”, “anxious” over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results: Of 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss, touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death.Conclusions: Online forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Yea Eun Park ◽  
Alyssa M. Howren ◽  
Eileen Davidson ◽  
Mary A De Vera

Abstract Background: Reddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our objective was to systematically search and analyze threads on the social news website, Reddit, to understand experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding their mental health. Methods: We conducted a patient-oriented descriptive qualitative study. We identified threads from two subreddits, “r/Thritis” and “r/Rheumatoid”, using keywords such as “mood”, “mental health”, “stressed”, “depressed”, “anxious” over a 1-year period between June 2018 and June 2019. For included threads, we extracted the title, original post, and corresponding comments and responses. We applied thematic analysis using an inductive approach. Results: Of 81 threads identified, we included 27. We identified four themes: 1) Navigating the management of RA explores how the physical impacts of the disease, lack of health resources/support and the complexity of medications affect mental health; 2) Experiencing impact on relationships and social isolation includes experiencing misconceptions of RA, feeling misunderstood and feeling guilt; 3) Experiencing loss , touches on the helplessness brought by challenges with performing self-defining activities such as self-care, work, and childbearing/parenting; and finally, 4) Experiencing emotional struggles captures how tension between fighting through and despair has led some to suicide ideation and thoughts of death. Conclusions: Online forums and communities such as Reddit have created opportunities for individuals with RA to share experiences on mental health matters, which they may not necessarily be able to share with others.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4415
Author(s):  
Antonio Taboada-Vazquez ◽  
Ruben Gonzalez-Rodriguez ◽  
Manuel Gandoy-Crego ◽  
Miguel Clemente

Research on personality variables and consumption of health services in actively employed people or retirees has been extensive, but the group of pre-retirees has hardly been studied. This work attempts to determine the mental health and use of health resources of the three groups, hypothesizing that, as the group of pre-retirees does not receive the social stigma of work exclusion, it will present better mental health. A sample of 1332 Spanish participants aged between 51 and 69 years was randomly chosen, and various personality tests were applied, and consumption of healthcare resources was determined. Pairwise analysis of the three work situations using binary logistic regressions showed that pre-retirees present better mental health, although there were no differences in the consumption of healthcare resources. The implications of this study for the creation of health promotion policies targeting older people, depending specifically on their employment status, are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 636-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Haines-Saah ◽  
Carla T. Hilario ◽  
Emily K. Jenkins ◽  
Cara K. Y. Ng ◽  
Joy L. Johnson

This article is based on findings from a qualitative study with 27 adolescents in northern British Columbia, Canada. Our aim was to explore youths’ perspectives on the sources of emotional distress in their lives and how these are connected to peer-based aggression and victimization within their community. Our analysis of narrative findings suggests that youths’ narratives about bullying reflect intersecting and socially embedded configurations of “race,” neocolonialism, and place. We argue that mainstream approaches to addressing bullying as a relationship-based problem must be re-oriented to account for the role of the social or structural contexts of youths’ lives. By applying an intersectional lens, we make the case for a widening of the focus of interventions away from individual victims and perpetrators, toward a contextual approach that addresses how adolescents experience bullying as a site of health and social inequities in their community.


Author(s):  
Rosalie Mary Gillett ◽  
Nicolas Suzor

The social news website Reddit has a long history of hosting communities (‘subreddits’) that advocate or encourage white supremacy (Gillespie 2018), disparagement of minority groups (Topinka 2017), and violence against women (Massanari 2017). As a platform that relies heavily on volunteer moderators to self-govern the subreddits (Matias 2016), Reddit has been criticised for failing to adequately enforce its site-wide rules (Gillespie 2018). Incels—an internet subculture that ascribes to deeply misogynistic beliefs—grew in visibility when they developed subreddits on Reddit. After ongoing criticism and media attention about harmful behaviour of incels both on and off the platform, Reddit imposed escalating sanctions and ultimately banned the most visible of these subreddits over a period of several years. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between formal rules and social norms in incel and related subreddits. This paper aims to improve understanding about how problematic norms are contested in (partially-) decentralised systems of content moderation. We examine discourse about moderation to better understand the role of moderation teams in maintaining and changing social norms in their communities and to examine the interaction between these norms and both sitewide and subreddit-specific rules. Our analysis suggests that the threat of prohibition alone is unlikely to be sufficient to drive cultural change in problematic subreddits. We argue that content moderation is an insufficient frame to understand the regulation of harmful communities; real change requires addressing the underlying cultural norms rather than focusing on individual pieces of content.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Derksen ◽  
Anna Serlachius ◽  
Keith J. Petrie ◽  
Nicola Dalbeth

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document