PurposeTo investigate the association between using online support groups (OSGs) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and the psychosocial factors that may influence this association among individuals with head and neck (H&N) cancer.MethodA sample of 199 persons with H&N cancer using four OSGs completed an online questionnaire using six pre-validated measures for social network, self-efficacy, anxiety and depression, adjustment, empowerment and quality of life. In addition, socio-demographic as well as illness-related and OSGs-related information was collected.ResultsParticipants who had better HRQoL had been using OSGs for a longer time than those who had worse HRQoL (B = 0.07, p < 0.05). Depression and adjustment were the only direct mediators in this association, whereas self-efficacy, anxiety and empowerment appeared as indirect mediators.ConclusionParticipation in OSGs was found to be associated to better HRQoL either directly or indirectly through decreasing depression, anxiety and the negative adjustment behaviours and increasing self-efficacy and empowerment of the users. The study presented a potential model of pathways linking OSG use and HRQoL for those with H&N cancer. However, the model needs to be tested in future longitudinal studies and the associations proposed need to be explored in greater detail.
Online support groups have become a familiar source of social support for people with a variety of health issues. To date, no research has investigated the use of such groups by people with head and neck cancer (H&N). The aim of this study was to assess the types of social support, both sought and offered, within online support groups (OSGs) for head and neck cancer. Data was collected from 18 OSGs and two coding schemes; the Social Support Behaviour Code and the scheme of Coursaris & Liu (2009), were used to analyse the content of support-seeking and support-offering messages. The results suggested that the most frequently offered types of social support by group members were informational (43.4%) and emotional (32.4%), followed by esteem (15.6%) and network support (6.1%), whereas little tangible assistance was offered (2.4%). The content of support-seeking messages included group members sharing personal experience (31.5%), with the most frequent sought support being informational support (25.5%). The OSGs can be advantageous to people with H&N cancer, especially for those with appearance or speech problems to mitigate their embarrassment and facilitate interaction with others. The present findings suggest that such OSGs can be promising sources of H&N cancer-related informational and emotional support for the recipients, whether they are patients, family members or carers.
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