Posted by LlurpsieNoodle on May 8, 2007, at 15:49:23
In reply to Re: Internet Self-Help Groups, posted by Dr. Bob on May 7, 2007, at 7:43:51
Houston TK. Cooper LA. Ford DE. Nice abstract on the efficacy of online support groups to help improve depression symptomology.
Dr. Bob, if your website has a mission statement (to provide support and education?) then wouldn't you also wish to have some evidence that you're actually helping users to feel better and heal faster (i.e. that this support group provides additonal benefit beyond psychotherapy and medication?)
Of course, no one knows whether 'lurking' provides the same types of benefits as being an active poster. Research on the other types of health-realated support groups seem to suggest that yes, there are benefits to being a more active participant.
So, I guess that's my reasoning for picking C. Ultimately, it comes down to helping people feel/get better, though, so I'd love to investigate whether amount of lurking/reading is associated with any type of relief
So, null hypothesis number 1)
lurkers will not reap the same benefits as active posters, perhaps because they will not recieve as much direct personalized support as active posters
Null hypothesis number 2)
People switch from being lurkers to posters because they feel the need for more direct support/advice/information? We could do a small pilot study with open-ended responses to see if any patterns emerge, and if so, proceed with a larger-scale multiple choice + open-ended format.
And here's where I have no experience really. Why would someone switch from being poster to being lurker. I can speculate on a few causes, but this is probably where a survey with open-ended responses is necessary. My speculations are that posters may find that psycho-babble no longer provides information that is relevant to them (perhaps they are in remission?); they have experienced problems with the psychobabble format; they have experienced negative feelings after specific interactions with posters and/or administrators; they have been blocked and choose not to return, or to return only to lurk; etc.
I'm not saying that this is a comprehensive list of possibilities. Rather that it may be useful to try to frame the research study into specific questions and goals at this point.
Plus my therapist is concerned that I'm underoccupied. She may be right. She suggested doing some volunteer work. I'm not sure this is exactly what she had in mind, but there are only so many hours of the day for arts and crafts projects...
-Ll
poster:LlurpsieNoodle
thread:709392
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20070423/msgs/756853.html