Soós MJ, Coulson NS, Davies EB. Exploring Social Support in an Online Support Community for Tourette Syndrome and Tic Disorders: An Analysis of Postings (Preprint).
J Med Internet Res 2021;
24:e34403. [PMID:
36194454 PMCID:
PMC9579925 DOI:
10.2196/34403]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Online support communities have become an accessible way of gaining social, emotional, and informational support from peers and may be particularly useful for individuals with chronic conditions. To date, there have been few studies exploring the online support available for tic disorders, such as Tourette syndrome. An exploratory study looking at users’ experiences with using online support communities for tic disorders suggested that members used such communities to share experiences, information, and strategies for tic management.
Objective
To build on these preliminary findings, this study examined the provision of social support in an online community for Tourette syndrome.
Methods
Data were collected from one publicly available online support community for Tourette syndrome and tics, from its inception to December 2019, by randomly selecting 10% of posts and their corresponding comments from each year for analysis. This resulted in 510 unique posts and 3802 comments posted from 1270 unique usernames. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results
The findings of this study suggest that users utilized the online community as a multifaceted virtual place where they could share and ask for information about tics, unload and share their feelings arising from living with Tourette syndrome, find people facing similar situations and experiences, and freely share the realities of living with Tourette syndrome.
Conclusions
The results complement the findings from a preliminary study and suggest that online support communities have a potentially valuable role as a mechanism for sharing and gaining information on illness experiences from similar peers experiencing tics and can promote self-management of tics. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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