Social Networking in Online Support Groups for Health: How Online Social Networking Benefits Patients

• Published in: Journal of health communication Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 639 - 659
• Main Author: Chung, Jae Eun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Taylor & Francis Group 01.06.2014; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Correlation analysis; Emotions; Female; Health Services Needs and Demand; Health technology assessment; Humans; Information; Information Seeking Behavior; Internet; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Motivation; Patients; Patients - psychology; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Self-Help Groups; Social interaction; Social Networking; Social networks; Young Adult; Human; Social group; Network; Patient; Social aspect; Public health; Communication; Social support
• ISSN: 1081-0730; 1087-0415
• DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2012.757396

An increasing number of online support groups (OSGs) have embraced the features of social networking. So far, little is known about how patients use and benefit from these features. By implementing the uses-and-gratifications framework, the author conducted an online survey with current users of OSGs to examine associations among motivation, use of specific features of OSG, and support outcomes. Findings suggest that OSG users make selective use of varied features depending on their needs, and that perceptions of receiving emotional and informational support are associated more with the use of some features than others. For example, those with strong motivation for social interaction use diverse features of OSG and make one-to-one connections with other users by friending. In contrast, those with strong motivation for information seeking limit their use primarily to discussion boards. Results also show that online social networking features, such as friending and sharing of personal stories on blogs, are helpful in satisfying the need for emotional support. The present study sheds light on online social networking features in the context of health-related OSGs and provides practical lessons on how to improve the capacity of OSGs to serve the needs of their users.