Patients' learning in cyberspace: a thematic analysis of patient-patient discussions in a chronic illness Facebook page.

Stevens, Gemma; O'Donnell, Victoria L.; Williams, Lynn

Abstract

Online support groups play an increasingly important role in patients' lived experience of chronic illness. The objective of this study was to explore how learning takes place from patients' interactions in an online chronic illness support group. Qualitative data consisted of 1,478 messages posted to a publicly accessible non-illness specific Facebook support page. Data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified from the analysis. This paper presents two themes, information sharing and dis(trust). Employing Wenger's communities of practice theoretical framework (Wenger, 1998), themes are discussed in terms of learning, participation in practices and identity. Online support groups can be pivotal to learning in illness. Patients' online information sharing provides them with opportunities for informal learning about their condition to take place. These online interactions lead to patients developing trust for one another and distrust for the medical care system.

Citation

STEVENS, G., O'DONNELL, V.L. and WILLIAMS, L. 2018. Patients' learning in cyberspace: a thematic analysis of patient-patient discussions in a chronic illness Facebook page. International journal of web based communities [online], 14(4), pages 417-431. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2018.096253

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 26, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Nov 13, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 14, 2019
• Journal: International journal of web based communities
• Print ISSN: 1477-8394
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-8216
• Publisher: Inderscience
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 417-431
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2018.096253
• Keywords: Patient interactions; Illness community; Chronic illness; Online support groups; Communities of practice; Learning
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3255