Sillence Elizabeth, Bussey Lauren
Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Patient Educ Couns. 2017 May;100(5):994-999. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2016.12.004. Epub 2016 Dec 12.
To investigate the ways in which people use online support groups (OSGs) in relation to their health decision-making and to identify the key features of the resource that support those activities.
Eighteen participants who used OSGs for a range of health conditions participated in qualitative study in which they were interviewed about their experiences of using OSGs in relation to decision-making. Exploration of their experiences was supported by discussion of illustrative quotes.
Across the health conditions OSGs supported two main decision-making activities: (i) prompting decision making and (ii) evaluating and confirming decisions already made. Depending on the activity, participants valued information about the process, the experience and the outcome of patient narratives. The importance of forum interactivity was highlighted in relation to advice-seeking and the selection of relevant personal experiences.
People use OSGs in different ways to support their health related decision-making valuing the different content types of the narratives and the interactivity provided by the resource.
Engaging with OSGs helps people in a number of different ways in relation to decision-making. However, it only forms one part of people's decision-making strategies and appropriate resources should be signposted where possible.
探讨人们使用在线支持小组（OSG）与健康决策相关的方式，并确定支持这些活动的资源的关键特征。
18名因各种健康状况使用在线支持小组的参与者参加了定性研究，在研究中他们就使用在线支持小组进行决策的经历接受了访谈。通过对示例引语的讨论来支持对他们经历的探索。
在各种健康状况中，在线支持小组支持两项主要的决策活动：（i）促使做出决策和（ii）评估和确认已做出的决策。根据活动的不同，参与者重视有关患者叙述的过程、经历和结果的信息。在寻求建议和选择相关个人经历方面，论坛互动的重要性得到了凸显。
人们以不同方式使用在线支持小组来支持与健康相关的决策，重视叙述的不同内容类型以及该资源提供的互动性。
参与在线支持小组在决策方面以多种不同方式帮助人们。然而，它只是人们决策策略的一部分，应尽可能指明合适的资源。
