scholarly journals Understanding the Factors Influencing Patient E-Health Literacy in Online Health Communities (OHCs): A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (14) ◽  
pp. 2455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Zhou ◽  
Tingting Fan
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Online Health Communities ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Health Communities ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Knowledge Seeking

Although online health communities (OHCs) are increasingly popular in public health promotion, few studies have explored the factors influencing patient e-health literacy in OHCs. This paper aims to address the above gap. Based on social cognitive theory, we identified one behavioral factor (i.e., health knowledge seeking) and one social environmental factor (i.e., social interaction ties) and proposed that both health knowledge seeking and social interaction ties directly influence patient e-health literacy; in addition, social interaction ties positively moderate the effect of health knowledge seeking on patient e-health literacy. We collected 333 valid data points and verified our three hypotheses. The empirical results provide two crucial findings. First, both health knowledge seeking and social interaction ties positively influence patient e-health literacy in OHCs. Second, social interaction ties positively moderate the effect of health knowledge seeking on patient e-health literacy. These findings firstly contribute to public health literature by exploring the mechanism of how different factors influence patient e-health literacy in OHCs and further contribute to e-health literacy literature by verifying the impact of social environmental factors.

scholarly journals Exploring the Factors Influencing Consumers to Voluntarily Reward Free Health Service Contributors in Online Health Communities: Empirical Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Zhou ◽  
Fang Liu ◽  
Tingting Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Informational Support ◽  
Online Health Communities ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Norm Compliance ◽  
Health Communities

BACKGROUND Rewarding health knowledge and health service contributors with money is one possible approach for the sustainable provision of health knowledge and health services in online health communities (OHCs); however, the reasons why consumers voluntarily reward free health knowledge and health service contributors are still underinvestigated. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to address the abovementioned gap by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ voluntary rewarding behaviors (VRBs) toward contributors of free health services in OHCs. METHODS On the basis of prior studies and the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), we incorporated two health service content–related variables (ie, informational support and emotional support) and two interpersonal factors (ie, social norm compliance and social interaction) and built a proposed model. We crawled a dataset from a Chinese OHC for mental health, coded it, extracted nine variables, and tested the model with a negative binomial model. RESULTS The data sample included 2148 health-related questions and 12,133 answers. The empirical results indicated that the effects of informational support (β=.168; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), emotional support (β=.463; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), social norm compliance (β=.510; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), and social interaction (β=.281; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) were significant. The moderating effects of social interaction on informational support (β=.032; <i>P</i>=.02) and emotional support (β=−.086; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) were significant. The moderating effect of social interaction on social norm compliance (β=.014; <i>P</i>=.38) was insignificant. CONCLUSIONS Informational support, emotional support, social norm compliance, and social interaction positively influence consumers to voluntarily reward free online health service contributors. Social interaction enhances the effect of informational support but weakens the effect of emotional support. This study contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in OHCs by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ VRBs toward free online health service contributors and contributes to the CEST literature by verifying that the effects of experiential and rational systems on individual behaviors can vary while external factors change.

scholarly journals Exploring the Factors Influencing Consumers to Voluntarily Reward Free Health Service Contributors in Online Health Communities: Empirical Study

10.2196/16526 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e16526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Zhou ◽  
Fang Liu ◽  
Tingting Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Informational Support ◽  
Online Health Communities ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Norm Compliance ◽  
Health Communities

Background Rewarding health knowledge and health service contributors with money is one possible approach for the sustainable provision of health knowledge and health services in online health communities (OHCs); however, the reasons why consumers voluntarily reward free health knowledge and health service contributors are still underinvestigated. Objective This study aimed to address the abovementioned gap by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ voluntary rewarding behaviors (VRBs) toward contributors of free health services in OHCs. Methods On the basis of prior studies and the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), we incorporated two health service content–related variables (ie, informational support and emotional support) and two interpersonal factors (ie, social norm compliance and social interaction) and built a proposed model. We crawled a dataset from a Chinese OHC for mental health, coded it, extracted nine variables, and tested the model with a negative binomial model. Results The data sample included 2148 health-related questions and 12,133 answers. The empirical results indicated that the effects of informational support (β=.168; P<.001), emotional support (β=.463; P<.001), social norm compliance (β=.510; P<.001), and social interaction (β=.281; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effects of social interaction on informational support (β=.032; P=.02) and emotional support (β=−.086; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effect of social interaction on social norm compliance (β=.014; P=.38) was insignificant. Conclusions Informational support, emotional support, social norm compliance, and social interaction positively influence consumers to voluntarily reward free online health service contributors. Social interaction enhances the effect of informational support but weakens the effect of emotional support. This study contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in OHCs by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ VRBs toward free online health service contributors and contributes to the CEST literature by verifying that the effects of experiential and rational systems on individual behaviors can vary while external factors change.

The Power of Peers: Applying User-Generated Content to Health Behaviors “Off-Line”

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (13) ◽  
pp. 2081-2093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Willis
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Online Health Communities ◽  
Shared Content ◽  
Health Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Communities

Many patients seek and share information online regarding health, especially those diagnosed with chronic disease. The social cognitive theory is used as the theoretical framework for analyzing how members learn within online health communities. This study conducted in-depth interviews with members from online health communities related to arthritis to understand their motivation for participating in the community and how the content exchanged therein is applied to managing their disease. Four themes were identified: processing disease diagnosis, collaborating to solve problem, recognizing personal limitations, and appreciating that health is variable. Topical communication within the online communities was often tailored to members’ situational needs with the ultimate goal being better self-management. The findings demonstrate the online health community is an environment that invites members who share common characteristics to engage with one another and with the shared content for the purpose of learning arthritis self-management strategies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Social Cognitive Theory and Motivation

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale H. Schunk ◽  
Ellen L. Usher
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive Theory ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Social Environmental

Social cognitive theory is a theory of human behavior that emphasizes learning from the social environment. This chapter focuses on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Persons use various vicarious, symbolic, and self-regulatory processes as they strive to develop a sense of agency in their lives. Key motivational processes are goals and self-evaluations of progress, outcome expectations, values, social comparisons, and self-efficacy. People set goals and evaluate their goal progress. The perception of progress sustains self-efficacy and motivation. Individuals act in accordance with their values and strive for outcomes they desire. Social comparisons with others provide further information on their learning and goal attainment. Self-efficacy is a critical influence on motivation and affects task choices, effort, persistence, and achievement. Recommendations are made for future research.

Why do doctors blog continuously? Factors influencing doctors’ continuous blogging (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Yen ◽  
Hui-Mei Hsu ◽  
I-Chiu Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive Theory ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Outcome Expectation ◽  
Subject Field ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Negative Outcome

BACKGROUND Many studies concluded that sharing medical information and giving advices are both important motivation for physicians to blog. However, most articles available in this subject field only describe the blog phenomena without providing a theoretical background and an empirical analysis of the phenomena. OBJECTIVE Since many studies were conducted to investigate the reasons why Physicians blog without a theoretical framework for a rigorous discussion. This study based on social cognitive theory (SCT) to explore the factors influencing physicians’ intention of continuously blogging. METHODS Eight Hundreds and seventy seven physicians’ bloggers were invited to participate an online survey and 128 valid responses returned. The SCT is proved to be useful in explaining 36.8 % of the variation in physicians' continuous intention to blog. RESULTS This study based on social cognitive theory (SCT) to explore the factors influencing physicians’ intention of continuously blogging by adding negative outcome expectations that most IS studies excluded. Further, the results of this study can remedy the insufficient knowledge and make a significant contribution to the IS literature. CONCLUSIONS Helping others is a creed for physicians, including those who seek helps from the Internet, the healing counts. Using the blog as a vehicle to educate, heal, and prevent disease is coincident with physicians’ oath. Therefore, this study strongly recommends physicians to create blogs to communicate with the public and blogging in a continuous manner. To motivate physicians to continue to blog, the platform developers can promote physicians by equipping them to have higher blog self-efficacy, a high positive performance/personal outcome expectation and lower negative outcome expectation from blogging, and also a higher satisfaction with their blogging behavior.

Online Health Communities and Health Literacy

2012 ◽  
pp. 180-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Willis ◽  
Ye Wang ◽  
Shelly Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Online Health Communities ◽  
The Third ◽  
Health Communities ◽  
The Biggest Loser ◽  
Practical Implications

The purpose of the chapter is to define health literacy and e-health literacy in the context of online health communities (OHCs). The chapter has three sections. The first section defines and discusses features of OHCs. The second section defines health literacy and e-health literacy, including domains of health literacy, which, as the authors argue, is necessary for a greater understanding of health literacy and OHCs. The third section applies the health literacy domains using The Biggest Loser League weight-loss OHC as a case study. A content analysis of posts was conducted between September 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. Domains of health literacy were coded. Results show that functional literacy and interactive literacy were present in the OHC discussions to a greater degree than any of the other health literacy domains examined. Results are discussed in light of health literacy and e-health literacy, and practical implications of OHCs are explored.

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