Empowering processes in online support groups among people living with HIV/AIDS: A comparative analysis of ‘lurkers’ and ‘posters’

The proliferation of online support groups provides an opportunity for individuals living with HIV/AIDS to obtain support online. The present study aimed to explore how different levels of participation in online support groups are associated with empowering processes and outcomes for individuals li...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers in human behavior 2010-09, Vol.26 (5), p.1183-1193
Main Authors: Mo, Phoenix K.H., Coulson, Neil S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
Aids
Biological and medical sciences
HIV
HIV/AIDS
Human viral diseases
Infectious diseases
Internet
Lurking
Medical sciences
Messages
On-line systems
Online
Online support groups
Posting
Receiving
Viral diseases
Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
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Summary:The proliferation of online support groups provides an opportunity for individuals living with HIV/AIDS to obtain support online. The present study aimed to explore how different levels of participation in online support groups are associated with empowering processes and outcomes for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. A total of 340 individuals living with HIV/AIDS were recruited. They completed an online questionnaire consisting of measures on satisfaction with online support groups, empowering processes, self-care self efficacy, loneliness, optimism, coping, depression, and health-related quality of life. Results revealed that compared to posters, members who only read the messages (lurkers) scored lower in receiving social support and receiving useful information in empowering processes, and lower in satisfaction with their relationship with group members. They also scored higher in distraction and lower in planning in the brief COPE. In addition, they scored lower in social function and higher in energy. There were no significant differences in self-care self efficacy, loneliness, depression, or optimism between posters and lurkers. Our results suggest that lurking in the online support groups may be as empowering as reading and posting messages to the groups. More research is needed to identify the long term effects of online support group use.
ISSN:0747-5632
1873-7692
DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.028