Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies
Abstract Background During public health emergencies, online community users can obtain social support and assistance through information interaction in the online community. This study takes the COVID-19 pandemic as the context and aims to analyze the influence of user information interaction in on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-06-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16151-3 |
| _version_ | 1827910560498319360 |
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| author | Yanni Yang Yue Zhang Anling Xiang |
| author_facet | Yanni Yang Yue Zhang Anling Xiang |
| author_sort | Yanni Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background During public health emergencies, online community users can obtain social support and assistance through information interaction in the online community. This study takes the COVID-19 pandemic as the context and aims to analyze the influence of user information interaction in online communities on the acquisition of social support during this public health emergency. Methods Data collected from help-seeking posts in the “COVID-19 Patients Help-Seeking Dialog” subforum on China’s Sina Weibo were used as the research sample. The influence of the frequency of interaction and responsiveness on help seekers’ receipt of online social support was analyzed, and the moderating effect of help seekers’ identity type and intensity of online community use was explored. Results The results reveal that the frequency of interaction positively impacts informational support (β = 0.367, p < 0.001) and negatively impacts emotional support (β=-0.240, p < 0.001), and the responsiveness of other users toward help-seeking posts positively impacts emotional support (β = 0.145, p < 0.01). Moreover, help seeker’s identity type and intensity of online community use significantly moderate the relationship between the frequency of interaction and the emotional support obtained by the help seeker. Conclusions The study highlights the impact of user information interaction on obtaining help-seeking information from online communities for social support. The initiative would facilitate the resolution of issues related to users’ information help-seeking during public health emergencies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:51:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6d4ef504a8894ff1bd3aacee91627bc1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:51:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-6d4ef504a8894ff1bd3aacee91627bc12023-07-02T11:29:08ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582023-06-0123111210.1186/s12889-023-16151-3Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergenciesYanni Yang0Yue Zhang1Anling Xiang2School of Literature and Media, China Three Gorges UniversityDavid Nazarian College of Business and Economics, California State University NorthridgeSchool of Journalism and Communication, Minzu University of ChinaAbstract Background During public health emergencies, online community users can obtain social support and assistance through information interaction in the online community. This study takes the COVID-19 pandemic as the context and aims to analyze the influence of user information interaction in online communities on the acquisition of social support during this public health emergency. Methods Data collected from help-seeking posts in the “COVID-19 Patients Help-Seeking Dialog” subforum on China’s Sina Weibo were used as the research sample. The influence of the frequency of interaction and responsiveness on help seekers’ receipt of online social support was analyzed, and the moderating effect of help seekers’ identity type and intensity of online community use was explored. Results The results reveal that the frequency of interaction positively impacts informational support (β = 0.367, p < 0.001) and negatively impacts emotional support (β=-0.240, p < 0.001), and the responsiveness of other users toward help-seeking posts positively impacts emotional support (β = 0.145, p < 0.01). Moreover, help seeker’s identity type and intensity of online community use significantly moderate the relationship between the frequency of interaction and the emotional support obtained by the help seeker. Conclusions The study highlights the impact of user information interaction on obtaining help-seeking information from online communities for social support. The initiative would facilitate the resolution of issues related to users’ information help-seeking during public health emergencies.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16151-3Public health emergencyCOVID-19 pandemicOnline communityOnline help-seekingInformation interactionOnline social support |
| spellingShingle | Yanni Yang Yue Zhang Anling Xiang Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies BMC Public Health Public health emergency COVID-19 pandemic Online community Online help-seeking Information interaction Online social support |
| title | Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| title_full | Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| title_fullStr | Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| title_short | Information interaction and social support: exploring help-seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| title_sort | information interaction and social support exploring help seeking in online communities during public health emergencies |
| topic | Public health emergency COVID-19 pandemic Online community Online help-seeking Information interaction Online social support |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16151-3 |
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