Using content and network analysis to understand the social support exchange patterns and user behaviors of an online smoking cessation intervention program

Abstract

Informational support and nurturant support are two basic types of social support offered in online health communities. This study identifies types of social support in the QuitStop forum and brings insights to exchange patterns of social support and user behaviors with content analysis and social network analysis. Motivated by user information behavior, this study defines two patterns to describe social support exchange: initiated support exchange and invited support exchange. It is found that users with a longer quitting time tend to actively give initiated support, and recent quitters with a shorter abstinent time are likely to seek and receive invited support. This study also finds that support givers of informational support quit longer ago than support givers of nurturant support, and support receivers of informational support quit more recently than support receivers of nurturant support. Usually, informational support is offered by users at late quit stages to users at early quit stages. Nurturant support is also exchanged among users within the same quit stage. These findings help us understand how health consumers are supporting each other and reveal new capabilities of online intervention programs that can be designed to offer social support in a timely and effective manner.

Consumer health information seeking in social media: a literature review

“…Two of them utilised the focus group methods, and one of them involved the interview method . The other eight research collected data directly from the social media platforms . Several (eight of 21) studies focused on the users at specific locations.…”

“…29 The other eight research collected data directly from the social media platforms. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Several (eight of 21) studies focused on the users at specific locations. For example, Benetoli et al 29 described the user behaviour of Australian consumers on Facebook while Kishimoto and Fukushima 26 reported the Japanese consumers' use of social media for drug information.…”

The effect of social network site use on the psychological well‐being of cancer patients

“…(Cobb, ; Hajli, ; Zhang & Yang, ). Studies have shown social support to be a product of social connections (Chuang & Yang, ; Lin, Hsu, Cheng, & Chiu, ; Zhang & Yang, ) and a predictor of health outcomes, such as greater well‐being (Bui, Yen, & Honavar, ; Wright, ). Rubenstein () showed information and emotional support was exchanged among members of an online breast cancer group.…”

You Get What You Give: Understanding Reply Reciprocity and Social Capital in Online Health Support Forums

“…For example, a self-initiated post often includes a description of the problem for which support is being sought. Replies to an original post from other online users can indicate attention, engagement, and responsiveness to the post (Himelboim, 2008;Huffaker, 2010;Zhang & Yang, 2015). Seen in this light, social networks based on reply relationships offer a fruitful venue for studying the interactive and reciprocal nature of communication in online support forums.…”