Milios Athena, Xiong Ting, McEwan Karen, McGrath Patrick
Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Centre for Research in Family Health, Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada.
JMIR Nurs. 2022 Aug 18;5(1):e36167. doi: 10.2196/36167.
Online support groups (OSGs) are distance-delivered, easily accessible health interventions offering emotional, informational, and experience-based support and companionship or network support for caregivers managing chronic mental and physical health conditions.
This study aimed to examine the relative contribution of extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, positive attitudes toward OSGs on social networking sites, and typical past OSG use patterns in predicting perceived OSG benefit in an OSG for parents and caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
A mixed methods, longitudinal design was used to collect data from 81 parents across Canada. Attitudes toward OSGs and typical OSG use patterns were assessed using the author-developed Attitudes Toward OSGs subscale (eg, "Online support groups are a place to get and give emotional support") and Past Behaviors in OSGs subscale (eg, "How often would you typically comment on posts?") administered at baseline-before OSG membership. The personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism were assessed at baseline using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Perceived OSG benefit was assessed using the author-developed Perceived OSG Benefit scale (eg, "Overall, did you feel supported by other members in this group?"), administered 2 months after the initiation of OSG membership.
A hierarchical regression analysis found that extraversion was the only variable that significantly predicted perceived OSG benefit (R=0.125; P<.001).
The key suggestions for improving future OSGs were facilitating more in-depth, customized, and interactive content in OSGs.
在线支持小组（OSG）是一种通过远程提供的、易于获取的健康干预措施，为管理慢性身心健康状况的照料者提供情感、信息和基于经验的支持以及陪伴或网络支持。
本研究旨在探讨外向性、宜人性、神经质、对社交网站上的在线支持小组的积极态度以及过去在线支持小组的典型使用模式在预测神经发育障碍儿童的父母和照料者在一个在线支持小组中感知到的在线支持小组益处方面的相对贡献。
采用混合方法纵向设计，从加拿大各地的81位父母那里收集数据。在加入在线支持小组之前的基线阶段，使用作者开发的在线支持小组态度子量表（例如，“在线支持小组是一个获得和给予情感支持的地方”）和在线支持小组过去行为子量表（例如，“你通常多久会对帖子发表评论？”）来评估对在线支持小组的态度和典型的在线支持小组使用模式。使用十项人格量表在基线阶段评估外向性、宜人性和神经质等人格特质。在加入在线支持小组2个月后，使用作者开发的感知在线支持小组益量表（例如，“总体而言，你是否感到在这个小组中得到了其他成员的支持？”）来评估感知到的在线支持小组益处。
层次回归分析发现，外向性是唯一能显著预测感知到的在线支持小组益处的变量（R = 0.125；P <.001）。
改善未来在线支持小组的关键建议是在在线支持小组中促进更深入、定制化和互动性的内容。
