University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2024 Jan 11;2023:1334-1343. eCollection 2023.
While prior work has investigated the benefits of online health communities and general-purpose social media used for health-related purposes, little work examines the use of TikTok, an emerging social media platform with a substantial user base. The platform's multimodal capabilities foster creative self-expression, while the content-driven network allows users to reach new audiences beyond their personal connections. To investigate users' challenges and motivations, we analyzed 160 TikTok videos that center on users' firsthand experiences living with chronic illness. We found that users struggled with a loss of normalcy and stigmatization in daily life. To contend with these challenges, they publicly shared their experiences to raise awareness, seek support from peers, and normalize chronic illness experiences. Based on our findings, we discuss the modalities of TikTok that facilitate self-expression around stigmatized topics and provide implications for the design of online health communities that better support adolescents and young adults.
虽然先前的研究已经调查了在线健康社区和用于健康相关目的的通用社交媒体的好处，但很少有研究关注 TikTok，这是一个新兴的社交媒体平台，拥有大量用户。该平台的多模态功能促进了创造性的自我表达，而内容驱动的网络允许用户超越个人联系，接触到新的受众。为了研究用户的挑战和动机，我们分析了 160 个以用户患有慢性病的第一手经验为中心的 TikTok 视频。我们发现，用户在日常生活中面临着失去常态和污名化的困扰。为了应对这些挑战，他们公开分享自己的经历，以提高认识，从同龄人那里获得支持，并使慢性病经历正常化。基于我们的发现，我们讨论了 TikTok 的模式，这些模式促进了围绕污名化话题的自我表达，并为更好地支持青少年和年轻人的在线健康社区的设计提供了启示。
