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

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 OSG...