Audrain-Pontevia Anne-Francoise, Menvielle Loick
1 ESG-UQAM, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
2 EDHEC, Nice, France.
Health Serv Manage Res. 2018 Aug;31(3):154-162. doi: 10.1177/0951484817748462. Epub 2017 Dec 27.
The diffusion of the Web 2.0 has made it possible for patients to exchange on online health communities, defined as computer-mediated communities dedicated to health topics, wherein members can build relationships with other members. It is now acknowledged that online health communities provide users not only with medical information but also with social support with no time or geographical boundaries. However, in spite of their considerable interest, there is still a paucity of research as to how online health communities alter the patient-physician relationship. This research aims at filling this gap and examines how online health communities, while providing users with computer-mediated social support and empowerment, impact the patient-physician relationship. Six hypotheses are proposed and tested. A survey was developed and 328 responses were collected from online patient groups in Canada in 2016. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. All but one hypothesis are validated. The results show that user computer-mediated social support positively influences user empowerment and participation during the consultation, which in turn determines user commitment to the relationship with the physician. Importantly and contrary to our expectations, user empowerment is found to be significantly but negatively related to user commitment with the physician.
Web 2.0的普及使患者能够在在线健康社区进行交流，在线健康社区被定义为致力于健康话题的计算机介导社区，成员可以在其中与其他成员建立关系。现在人们认识到，在线健康社区不仅为用户提供医疗信息，还提供没有时间或地理界限的社会支持。然而，尽管它们备受关注，但关于在线健康社区如何改变医患关系的研究仍然很少。本研究旨在填补这一空白，探讨在线健康社区在为用户提供计算机介导的社会支持和赋权的同时，如何影响医患关系。提出并检验了六个假设。开发了一项调查，并于2016年从加拿大的在线患者群体中收集了328份回复。使用结构方程模型对数据进行了分析。除一个假设外，所有假设均得到验证。结果表明，用户通过计算机介导的社会支持对咨询期间的用户赋权和参与有积极影响，这反过来又决定了用户对与医生关系的承诺。重要的是，与我们的预期相反，发现用户赋权与用户对医生的承诺显著负相关。
