Journal ArticleDOI
Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups.
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TLDR
Support seeking was highest for diseases viewed as stigmatizing and was lowest for less embarrassing but equally devastating disorders, such as heart disease, and implications for social comparison theory and its applications in health care are discussed.Abstract:
More Americans try to change their health behaviors through self-help than through all other forms of professionally designed programs. Mutual support groups, involving little or no cost to participants, have a powerful effect on mental and physical health, yet little is known about patterns of support group participation in health care. What kinds of illness experiences prompt patients to seek each other's company? In an effort to observe social comparison processes with real-world relevance, support group participation was measured for 20 disease categories in 4 metropolitan areas (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas) and on 2 on-line forums. Support seeking was highest for diseases viewed as stigmatizing (e.g., AIDS, alcoholism, breast and prostate cancer) and was lowest for less embarrassing but equally devastating disorders, such as heart disease. The authors discuss implications for social comparison theory and its applications in health care.read more
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Proceedings Article
Evaluation of Internet Social Networks using Net scoring Tool: A Case Study in Adverse Drug Reaction Mining
Sandrine Katsahian,Erica Simond Moreau,Damien Leprovost,Jérémy Lardon,Cédric Bousquet,Gaétan Kerdelhué,Redhouane Abdellaoui,Nathalie Texier,Anita Burgun,Abdelali Boussadi,Carole Faviez +10 more
TL;DR: The personal opinion of the expert seems to have a major impact, undermining the relevance of the criterion and an existing rating tool on a set of social network web sites is used to assess the capabilities of these tools.
Book ChapterDOI
Studying Stigmatization and Status Disclosure Among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Russia Through Online Health Communities
Victoria I. Dudina,Anna Tsareva +1 more
TL;DR: It can hypothesize that the more user perceive the illness as a “punishment” for inappropriate behavior the more difficulties she or he experiences with the disclosure of HIV status, as well as the reduction of internalized stigma.
Communication and information-seeking strategies used to build trust and reduce uncertainty among customers of McDonald’s restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract: Today, organizations have increasingly expanded their businesses into the international markets as global brands. Globalization enables information and knowledge to be easily and thoroughly disseminated to many areas. In order to achieve success when a global brand goes local, the organizations have to understand the uncertainty of customers and implement communication strategies with the customers to match the diversity of the locales. McDonald’s is one of the most famous and familiar international brands in many countries, including Thailand. The purposes of this research study were to examine the communication strategies that McDonald’s in Thailand (McThai Company) executes to provide information and build trusting relationships with Thai customers, as well as to reduce customers’ uncertainty. Furthermore, this study investigated the issues that provoke customers’ uncertainty and the information-seeking strategies that McDonald’s Thai customers prefer to employ to reduce their uncertainty regarding McDonald’s products or services. Qualitative methods, i.e., in-depth interviews and focus groups, were conducted in this study. On the part of McThai Company, the Communications and
Journal ArticleDOI
User interactions and behaviors in a large-scale online emotional support service
TL;DR: Examining the users, conversations, and activities performed across 7 Cups, a massive, vibrant emotional support system with a community of listeners ready to help those with any number of emotional issues, gives insight into the user dynamics and communication structure of an online emotional support service, the features that drive engagement, and a means of identifying misbehaving users automatically.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pointed out that there is a strong functional tie between opinions and abilities in humans and that the ability evaluation of an individual can be expressed as a comparison of the performance of a particular ability with other abilities.
Book
Statistical abstract of the United States
TL;DR: The Red River of the North basin of the Philippines was considered a part of the Louisiana Purchase by the United States Department of Commerce in the 1939 Census Atlas of the United Philippines as discussed by the authors.
Book
The theory and practice of group psychotherapy
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Journal ArticleDOI
Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?
Robert E. Kraut,Michael Patterson,Vicki Lundmark,Sara Kiesler,Tridas Mukophadhyay,William L. Scherlis +5 more
TL;DR: Greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness.
Journal ArticleDOI