Kavanagh Eliza, Chur-Hansen Anna, Ferencz Nicki
School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Women's and Children's Health Network, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, Australia.
Aust J Psychol. 2023 May 25;75(1):2216303. doi: 10.1080/00049530.2023.2216303. eCollection 2023.
Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly public health problem for young people. The associated physical, psychosocial, and psychological burdens, including higher degrees of social isolation, are well documented. Pathways to receive and offer support can be found with online social support (OSS). Research indicates OSS features impact the frequency of use, reach, safety and overall experience for the user.
We conducted a rigorous internet search to identify and appraise the available English-language OSS worldwide for young people with chronic pain. Through Google, two complementary search strategies were used to identify the available OSS. The general characteristics and features of the available OSS were then extracted.
The search strategies produced a total yield of 1319 websites of which 11 OSS websites were identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Characteristics of OSS varied significantly, such as moderation, site access requirements and safeguarding features. Only two of the OSS sites, both being affiliated with a hospital, offered all of the features suggested by the literature to mitigate the potential for harm.
Despite the prevalence of chronic pain in young people and clear benefits to utilise support online, there is a paucity of available high-quality OSS available for access and support. When young people do go online with the hope to receive support, a safe space to share experiences may not be easily found. It appears an important opportunity is being missed for this group to foster social connections that may be unavailable offline.
慢性疼痛是一个在年轻人中普遍存在且代价高昂的公共卫生问题。与之相关的身体、心理社会和心理负担，包括更高程度的社会隔离，都有充分的文献记载。通过在线社会支持（OSS）可以找到获得和提供支持的途径。研究表明，OSS的功能会影响用户的使用频率、覆盖范围、安全性和整体体验。
我们进行了严格的网络搜索，以识别和评估全球范围内可供慢性疼痛青年使用的英文OSS。通过谷歌，使用了两种互补的搜索策略来识别可用的OSS。然后提取了可用OSS的一般特征和功能。
搜索策略共产生了1319个网站，其中11个OSS网站被确定符合纳入标准。OSS的特征差异很大，如审核、网站访问要求和安全保护功能。只有两个与医院相关的OSS网站具备文献中提出的所有减轻潜在危害的功能。
尽管慢性疼痛在年轻人中普遍存在，且在线利用支持有明显益处，但可供访问和支持的高质量OSS却很少。当年轻人上网希望获得支持时，可能不容易找到一个安全的分享经验的空间。对于这个群体来说，似乎错过了一个建立线下可能无法实现的社会联系的重要机会。
