Staccato social support in mobile health applications

Abstract

Social support plays an important role in health systems. While significant work has explored the role of social support in CMC environments, less analysis has considered social support in mobile health systems. This paper describes socially supportive messages in VERA, a mobile application for sharing health decisions and behaviors. The short and bursty interactions in social awareness streams [36] afford a particular style of social support, for which we offer the label staccato social support. Results indicate that, in comparison to previous work, staccato social support is characterized by a greater prevalence of esteem support, which builds respect and confidence. We further note the presence of 'following up', a positive behavior that contributes to supportive interactions, likely via social pressure and accountability [7,38]. These findings suggest design recommendations to developers of mobile social support systems and contribute to understanding technologically mediated social support for health.

Understanding the Roles and Influences of Mediators from Multiple Social Channels for Health Behavior Change

“…Many studies on health behavior changes have developed new systems to help users realize their goals. A messaging application, VERA (Virtual Environment for Raised Awareness), assists users with weight loss and health promotion by allowing them to share messages [1]. An exer-game, iFitQuest [13], supports adolescents' physical activities by applying gamification based on the physical location of users.…”

Understanding the lived experience of adolescents with type 1 diabetes

“…Adams et al [1] discuss VERA (Virtual Environments for Raised Awareness), a mobile application that allows users to share images, ratings, and thoughts on their healthcare decisions. Analysis of initial deployment outcomes was conducted in light of staccato social support, a type of brief, rapid social support typical of mobile environments.…”

Understanding text-based persuasion and support tactics of concerned significant others

“…For many decades, the role of social support in the enhancement of health and wellness has been a topic of interest to scientists and practitioners across many related disciplines, including medical, psychological and sociological lines of inquiry (Caplan, 1979, Cohen & Syme, 1985, Tracy & Whittaker, 1990, DiMatteo, 2004. Under the umbrella of social support, a large and comprehensive literature on supportive communication has emerged, spanning face-toface and technology-mediated communication (Burleson & MacGeorge, 2002, Adams, Baumer & Gay, 2014. Some of the earliest work on social support offered definitions of this construct that tie it strongly to elements of compassion, such that the target of social support is made aware that (s)he belongs to a community and is loved, cared for and esteemed (Moss, 1973, Cobb, 1976).…”

“…PrePrints communities tailored to the behavior or health issue of interest (Braithwaite, Waldron & Finn, 1999, Adams, Baumer & Gay, 2014. This is striking, since one might argue that social support in our everyday lives comes predominantly from our CSOs, who offer us their support and feedback both when we request it and when we do not.…”

“…Table presents this coding schema, along with an example message for each coding variable. We also coded all messages generated by CSO's based on a schema developed by Cutrona & Suhr (1994) to classify different types of supportive messages. Although variations on this schema and the definitions of its variables have emerged over time (Adams, Baumer & Gay, 2014), we used the original schema and definitions as follows: (1) emotional support, defined as an expression of care, concern and/or sympathy, (2) esteem support, defined as reassurance of worth, an expression of liking for or confidence in the TSO, (3) network support, defined as an expression of connection or belonging in a social community, (4) informational support, defined as information and/or advice, and (5) tangible assistance, defined as an offer of money, physical intervention or other material aid. We added an additional variable to this schema to categorize messages that were entirely unsupportive.…”