Department of General Practice, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany.
BMJ Open. 2019 Jan 21;9(1):e022642. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022642.
Social support is considered an important resource in coping with chronic conditions. By conducting a series of interviews with people who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), we received the impression that social support in face-to-face or online communication could also be a source of stress and strain. The aim of our study was to better understand and describe possible negative effects of social support.
This is a secondary analysis of narrative interviews. The interviewees were selected using a maximum-variation sampling approach. Grounded theory and the 'OSOP' (one sheet of paper) method were applied to categorise those parts of the interviews that touched on the negative effects of social support.
The open-end interview collection took place throughout Germany from September 2011 to June 2012. Most of the participants were interviewed in their homes, some in the Department of General Practice in Göttingen.
42 patients with IBD.
Two interrelated categories emerged: (1) unwanted confrontation and (2) undesirable reactions. The interviewees perceived social support as negative, especially if they felt overwhelmed and/or if they had not asked for it. Consequently, some of our interview partners developed strategies to prevent coming into social contact with others or stopped talking entirely about their disease.
While social support is usually conceptualised and perceived as a positive resource in chronic disease, it sometimes turns into a negative experience and may end in social isolation and deteriorate health. This process also happens in online support groups and increases anxiety when exchanging with other people on the internet. Before motivating ill people to seek contact with others, they should know about the negative effects of social support.
社会支持被认为是应对慢性疾病的重要资源。通过对患有炎症性肠病（IBD）的人进行一系列访谈，我们得到的印象是，面对面或在线交流中的社会支持也可能成为压力和紧张的来源。我们的研究旨在更好地理解和描述社会支持可能产生的负面影响。
这是对叙事访谈的二次分析。采用最大变异抽样方法选择受访者。应用扎根理论和“OSOP”（一张纸）方法对访谈中涉及社会支持负面影响的部分进行分类。
开放式访谈收集于 2011 年 9 月至 2012 年 6 月在德国各地进行。大多数参与者在家中接受访谈，一些在哥廷根的全科医学系接受访谈。
42 名 IBD 患者。
出现了两个相互关联的类别：（1）不想要的对抗；（2）不想要的反应。受访者认为社会支持是负面的，尤其是当他们感到不堪重负和/或没有要求时。因此，我们的一些访谈对象制定了策略来避免与他人接触，或者完全停止谈论他们的疾病。
虽然社会支持通常被概念化为慢性疾病的积极资源，但有时它会变成一种负面体验，并可能导致社交孤立和健康状况恶化。这个过程也会发生在在线支持小组中，并在与其他人在互联网上交流时增加焦虑。在激励病人与他人接触之前，他们应该了解社会支持的负面影响。
