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 co...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Information |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/9/10/259 |
| _version_ | 1811227730863194112 |
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| author | Juan F. Maestre Susan C. Herring Aehong Min Ciabhan L. Connelly Patrick C. Shih |
| author_facet | Juan F. Maestre Susan C. Herring Aehong Min Ciabhan L. Connelly Patrick C. Shih |
| author_sort | Juan F. Maestre |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:46:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5acef877930b478aa89ca9fbc6092ffb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2078-2489 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:46:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-5acef877930b478aa89ca9fbc6092ffb2022-12-22T03:37:56ZengMDPI AGInformation2078-24892018-10-0191025910.3390/info9100259info9100259Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIVJuan F. Maestre0Susan C. Herring1Aehong Min2Ciabhan L. Connelly3Patrick C. Shih4School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47408, USASchool of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47408, USASchool of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47408, USASchool of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47408, USASchool of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47408, USAResearch 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.http://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/9/10/259support seekingsocial supportHIVHIV supportonline health communitiesonline forums: stigmatized populationscomputer-mediated communicationcontent analysis |
| spellingShingle | Juan F. Maestre Susan C. Herring Aehong Min Ciabhan L. Connelly Patrick C. Shih Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV Information support seeking social support HIV HIV support online health communities online forums: stigmatized populations computer-mediated communication content analysis |
| title | Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV |
| title_full | Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV |
| title_fullStr | Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV |
| title_full_unstemmed | Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV |
| title_short | Where and How to Look for Help Matters: Analysis of Support Exchange in Online Health Communities for People Living with HIV |
| title_sort | where and how to look for help matters analysis of support exchange in online health communities for people living with hiv |
| topic | support seeking social support HIV HIV support online health communities online forums: stigmatized populations computer-mediated communication content analysis |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/9/10/259 |
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