Reifegerste Doreen, Wasgien Katrin, Hagen Lutz M
Department of Journalism and Communication Research, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Germany.
Institute of Media and Communication, University of Technology Dresden, Germany.
Int J Med Inform. 2017 May;101:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2017.02.003. Epub 2017 Feb 6.
Worldwide, the number of obese persons continues to grow. Online-mediated self-help groups represent an opportunity for obese persons to support each other. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether and how the use of and active participation in online self-help groups is associated with perceived informational and emotional support among obese adults.
We conducted an online-based questionnaire (N=230) with users of online self-help groups for obese adults in Germany.
Findings revealed that forum activity is significantly correlated with perceived informational and emotional support. While asking questions was strongly correlated with both types of social support, sharing opinions and answering posts were more strongly correlated with perceived emotional support.
The level of social support in online communities depends on an individual's forum activity. Our findings offer a foundation for professionals in the health care sector to enhance their understanding, make recommendations, and further develop online self-help groups.
在全球范围内，肥胖人群的数量持续增长。在线自助小组为肥胖者提供了相互支持的机会。我们研究的目的是评估在线自助小组的使用及积极参与是否以及如何与肥胖成年人所感知到的信息支持和情感支持相关联。
我们对德国肥胖成年人在线自助小组的用户进行了一项基于网络的问卷调查（N = 230）。
研究结果显示，论坛活跃度与感知到的信息支持和情感支持显著相关。虽然提问与两种社会支持都密切相关，但分享观点和回复帖子与感知到的情感支持的相关性更强。
在线社区中的社会支持水平取决于个人的论坛活跃度。我们的研究结果为医疗保健领域的专业人员增进理解、提出建议以及进一步发展在线自助小组提供了基础。
