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Online forum messages posted by adolescents with type 1 diabetes
Russell D Ravert1, Mary D Hancock1, Gary M Ingersoll1
1Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington
Purpose:
Messages posted by adolescents with diabetes at public Web-based forums were assessed using content analysis.
Methods:
Messages (n = 340) from adolescents self-identified as having diabetes were collected from public online discussion and question/answer forums and coded with respect to age, gender, duration of illness, and purpose of the post. Request messages were analyzed using a constant comparative method to generate descriptive categories. Nonparametric tests assessed for differences among groups and between forum types and request topics.
Results:
Most messages were from females who more often posted at discussion forums. Males posted more information requests. Six categories emerged from the analysis: life tasks, social support, medical care, factual information, management, and intrapsychic. Social support messages accounted for half of discussion forum requests; information/management requests were common in question/answer forums.
Conclusions:
Data suggest that adolescents with diabetes visit online forums for social support, information, advice, and shared experience. Females used discussion forums more frequently and males requested more information.
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