Receiving Social Support Online: An Analysis of a Computer-Mediated Support Group for Individuals Living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome
By Neil S. Coulson. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2005
477 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In recent years, the rapid expansion in Internet access and computer-mediated communication has fostered new opportunities for individuals with health-related concerns to participate in supportive communication within a network of individuals dealing with similar issues. The aim of this study was to examine the nature of socially supportive communication that took place within a computer-mediated support network for individuals affected by irritable bowel syndrome. Using deductive thematic analysis, 572 posted messages were examined with reference to five main categories of social support (i.e., emotional, esteem, information, network, and tangible assistance). The analysis suggests that the primary function of this group was the communication of informational support, notably within the areas of symptom interpretation, illness management, and interaction with health care professionals.
Subfields: Clinical Psychology, General Health Professions
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/62c7a2f7ab69ed93388dee09094b82a5a1a1fb15
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In Clinical Psychology
In General Health Professions
Citations in the corpus
- Does activity level in online support groups for distressed adolescents determine emotional relief (2006, methodology): “Also, in using advanced text analysis tools to examine content of forum messages (e.g., Alpers et al., 2005), or deductive semantic analysis (e.g., Coulson, 2005 ), further understanding of the dynamics of help given and received in online support groups could be”
- What Drives Social Commerce: The Role of Social Support and Relationship Quality (2011, background): “Since interactions on the Internet are virtual in nature and are often relied-on messages, online social support that may help social media users usually is intangible in nature, including informational support and emotional support [10, 22, 30].”