Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Health Commun. 2013;28(5):499-508. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2012.699889. Epub 2012 Aug 8.
This study explores the personal experience of pro-ana bloggers, members of an online community for people with eating disorders. Using Erving Goffman's work on stigma, this study explores the motivations, benefits, and drawbacks of blogging about a stigmatized mental illness, as taken from the bloggers' own perceptive. We conducted 33 interviews with bloggers from seven different countries via phone, Skype, and e-mail. Participants were motivated to blog because they found social support, a way to cope with a stigmatized illness, and means of self-expression. Participants described blogging as a cathartic experience and perceived the social support they received from other members of the pro-ana community as a benefit. The fear that the eating disorder will be revealed if the blog is exposed and the concern that the blog encourages disordered eating were the perceived negative consequences of maintaining such a blog. Thus, blogging about anorexia serves to both alleviate and trigger anxiety about living with this stigmatized illness. Recommendations for future research are made.
这项研究探讨了 pro-ana 博客作者的个人经历，他们是一个有饮食障碍人群的在线社区的成员。本研究使用欧文·戈夫曼（Erving Goffman）关于污名的著作，从博客作者自己的角度探讨了撰写关于被污名化的精神疾病的博客的动机、好处和弊端。我们通过电话、Skype 和电子邮件对来自七个不同国家的 33 名博客作者进行了采访。参与者撰写博客的动机是因为他们在博客中找到了社会支持、应对被污名化的疾病的方法以及自我表达的方式。参与者将博客描述为一种宣泄的体验，并认为他们从 pro-ana 社区其他成员那里获得的社会支持是一种好处。担心如果博客被曝光，饮食失调会被揭露，以及担心博客鼓励不规律的饮食，是维护这种博客的被感知到的负面后果。因此，撰写关于厌食症的博客既可以减轻也可以引发对这种被污名化的疾病的焦虑。本文提出了未来研究的建议。
