Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV

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.

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The Influence of Self-Disclosure in Online Support Seeking on Quality of Received Advice

Journal of Language and Social Psychology ◽

10.1177/0261927x20911989 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

pp. 397-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

V. Skye Wingate ◽

Bo Feng ◽

Chelsea Kim ◽

Wenjing Pan ◽

JooYoung Jang

Keyword(s):

Emotional Support ◽

Self Concept ◽

Future Research ◽

Online Support ◽

Self Disclosure ◽

Support Provision ◽

Support Seeking ◽

Advice Quality

Advice of varying quality can be provided to support seekers online. This study examined whether the type of self-disclosure (demographic vs. self-concept) included in a support-seeking post elicits varying levels of advice quality in support provision. Participants ( N = 624) read and responded to an online support-seeking post. Their advice messages were assessed for quality as indexed by the use of reasoning and the sequencing of advice relative to other elements of supportive interactions (emotional support and problem inquiry and analysis). Overall, results suggested that most advice messages were behavior-oriented and did not contain reasoning or additional supportive acts. The type of self-disclosure did not affect advice quality. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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Content Analysis and User Characteristics of a Smartphone-Based Online Support Group for People Living with HIV

Telemedicine Journal and e-Health ◽

10.1089/tmj.2015.0160 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (9) ◽

pp. 746-754 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Tabor E. Flickinger ◽

Claire DeBolt ◽

Erin Wispelwey ◽

Colleen Laurence ◽

Erin Plews-Ogan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Support Group ◽

Online Support ◽

People Living With Hiv ◽

User Characteristics ◽

Online Support Group ◽

Living With Hiv

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Authors’ Response to Peer Reviews of “The Exchange of Informational Support in Online Health Communities at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Content Analysis” (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.31329 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Wesley Jong ◽

Ou Stella Liang ◽

Christopher C Yang

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Peer Review ◽

Informational Support ◽

Peer Reviews ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

Health Communities

UNSTRUCTURED These are author responses to peer review.

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

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology ◽

10.1002/asi.24436 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xiangyu Wang ◽

Andrew High ◽

Xi Wang ◽

Kang Zhao

Keyword(s):

Online Health Communities ◽

Health Communities

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Online Health Communities and Health Literacy

User-Driven Healthcare ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-2770-3.ch010 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 180-196 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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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What You Say Is What You Get: How Self-Disclosure in Support Seeking Affects Language Use in Support Provision in Online Support Forums

Journal of Language and Social Psychology ◽

10.1177/0261927x17706983 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 3-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Wenjing Pan ◽

Bo Feng ◽

V. Skye Wingate

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Language Use ◽

Self Concept ◽

Future Research ◽

Online Support ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Self Disclosure ◽

Support Provision ◽

Support Seeking ◽

Competing Hypotheses

This experimental study examined how depth of self-disclosure (baseline, peripheral, core) in support-seeking posts influenced forum viewers’ interaction involvement and reciprocal self-disclosure in their responses. A series of competing hypotheses derived from several theoretical frameworks were tested. Results obtained from computerized text analyses showed that self-concept self-disclosure was associated with higher levels of interaction involvement and reciprocal self-disclosure in viewers’ response messages. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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