Analysis of User Social Support Network in Online Tumor Community

Abstract

With the development of Internet technology, online health forums have become indispensable for people who seek non-professional health support. This research focuses on the content posted by cancer patients and their relatives in online health forums and social networks to raise the following research questions: What is the overall view of the social support network in the online tumor community? What are the information behaviors of the online tumor community in different identities of users? How users interact in this community and build this network of social support? What are the topics users would like to share and talk about? What kinds of users could be the key users in this community? Method: Using the post and comment data of the Oncology Forum of Tianya Hospital in 2019, combined with social network analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis, the following conclusions are obtained: (1) There are some central points in the overall social support network, and there are central users consistent with other social networks. (2) Positive users are more likely to comment on others, and it is easier to get others’ comments, while negative users are more likely to share personal information and do not want to participate more in social interaction. (3) Users focus on posting emotional and emotional content in content sharing. Information-based social support information. The social support experience that this type of information brings to users can be positive and negative. (4) The most active group in the patients’ online health community, followed by the patients’ children. (5) The relationship between users and patients is diverse and there are two types of singularity. Users with diverse relationships are more likely to be commented on, and they are more willing to comment on users who also have diverse relationships.

Online health community for change: Analysis of self-disclosure and social networks of users with depression

“…We have found a big gap between receiving and offering support in the DSN, which confirms Hanneman and Riddle (2005) that SNS (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) tend to show more homogeneity regarding out-degree than in-degree. In the same vein, some studies have suggested that users would restrict online support to a limited number of users (Lin and Li, 2021;Lu et al, 2021;Ramamoorthy et al, 2021). The mechanism of low out-degree and its effects on SNS should be investigated in future research.…”

“…Users form supportive, asynchronous, and fulfilling relationships that reduce anxiety and improve life satisfaction in various conditions, such as cancer ( Kim et al, 2013 ; Myrick et al, 2015 ), depression ( Pan et al, 2020 ; Lu et al, 2021 ), postpartum depression ( Lei et al, 2022 ), and HIV ( Ho et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2018 ). On the other hand, some have indicated that passive consumption of online support can result in ineffective coping, unwanted help, negative responses, and contradicted suggestions ( Batenburg and Das, 2015 ; Hou et al, 2020 ; Lin and Li, 2021 ).…”

“…The conflict in the literature lies in the primary focus of understanding social support as an attribute of people surrounding the individual, including the types, amount, and impact of support on the individual ( Oh et al, 2014 ; Zhang and Yang, 2014 ; Wright, 2016 ; Liu et al, 2018 ; Lin and Li, 2021 ). As a result, these approaches have overlooked social support’s relational and structural aspects.…”

“…Developing interpersonal relationships is a prerequisite or cause of network structure, and both can affect feelings of social support ( Lakey and Orehek, 2011 ; Ali et al, 2015 ; Hall and Liu, 2022 ). Online support contributes to well-being when users engage in ways that foster meaningful interpersonal connections ( Reifegerste et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2019 ; Lin and Li, 2021 ).…”

“…SNA describes social relationships in terms of contacts and connections. Relational connections enable the exchange between individuals or groups and their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors ( Xu and Zhang, 2016 ; Lin and Li, 2021 ; Qu et al, 2022 ). Throughout these connections, individuals and groups share inherent resources, including social support ( Phung et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; Li and Xu, 2020 ; Pan et al, 2020 ).…”