Guided by the masspersonal communication model, this study examined the impact of the communication channel (masspersonal vs. interpersonal) and support message type on evaluation of social support ...message quality in Facebook settings. An online factorial experiment with 480 participants revealed that support messages sent through interpersonal channels (e.g., private messaging) were perceived as higher in quality than those sent through masspersonal channels (e.g., status update). Regardless of channels, participants considered tangible support messages as higher quality than informational and emotional support messages. Implications for computer-mediated communication and social support theories and practices were discussed.
Participation in online support groups leads to improved health. While viewing others' interactions is one of the major activities in online support groups and lurkers comprise the majority of online ...support group participants, the literature on how participants benefit from viewing others' posts and comments is sparse. Building upon the Social Penetration Theory and the narrative persuasion process, this study focused on two key features of online support groups, self-disclosure and similarity. It tested their direct effects on viewers' perceived similarity with the poster and indirect effects on viewers' behavior intention through three mediators: perceived similarity, identification, and perceived support availability. A 2 (similarity vs. dissimilarity) by 3 (factual vs. cognitive vs. emotional self-disclosure) online experiment involving 280 overweight adult participants was conducted. Findings showed similarity of health status led to increased level of perceived similarity and moderated the effects of self-disclosure. Self-disclosure and similarity increased dieting intention through increasing perceived similarity, identification, and perceived support availability. This study provides experimental evidence suggesting viewers can benefit from online support groups through a narrative persuasion process.
This study investigates factors that motivate users of social network sites (SNS) to write responses to support-seeking posts on SNS. In particular, support-seeking message valence and support ...providers' efficacy perceptions were examined. An online experiment with 209 participants revealed that participants reported lower support provision efficacy and impression management efficacy when responding to a negative post than a positive post. Message valence and efficacy perceptions impacted word count and emotion words in their responses. Theoretical and pragmatic implications for supportive communication and computer-mediated communication were discussed.
The present study investigated emotional self-disclosure (ESD) patterns and their effects in online support groups specific to different stages of breast cancer. Linguistic features of messages ...posted to an online breast cancer support group were analyzed. ESD was common, and was consistent across four stage forums. Emotional talk was linked to a variety of themes, but most prominently in the context of discussions about social connections rather than health or death. Linguistic style matching mediated the relationship between ESD in posts and reciprocal ESD in comments, suggesting a key role for mutual understanding and engagement between posters and commenters. Implications for health communication theory and practice were discussed.
•Five thousand participants were screened to identify eligible US patients.•Patients randomized to view a narrative video or pamphlet about opioid tapering.•Perceived tapering effectiveness was ...higher in the video than the pamphlet group.•Perceived self-efficacy was higher in the video than the pamphlet group.•Post-intervention tapering intention did not differ between groups.
To compare effectiveness of a narrative-based educational video versus an informational pamphlet for increasing patients’ self-efficacy and intention to taper their opioid use.
Five thousand participants recruited from MTurk were screened to identify eligible patients. Eligible participants (n = 365, 49.9 % female, mean age = 37 years) were randomized to either watch the narrative video or read the pamphlet. Linear regression models were used for the main analysis.
Participants’ perceptions of tapering effectiveness were higher in the video group (mean = 4.06) than the pamphlet group (mean = 3.67), adjusted mean difference = 0.34, 95 %CI 0.13 - 0.54,P < 0.001. Participants’ perceptions of tapering self-efficacy were also higher in the video group (mean = 3.97) than the pamphlet group (mean = 3.60), adjusted mean difference = 0.32, 95 %CI 0.09 – 0.55, P < 0.001. Perceived tapering effectiveness and self-efficacy were both positively associated with post-intervention tapering intention (Spearman rank correlation coefficient = 0.38 and 0.53, respectively, both P < 0.001).
A narrative-based video about opioid tapering enhanced patients’ perceptions of the effectiveness of tapering and their tapering self-efficacy.
Narrative-based videos may be effective for changing patient attitudes about opioid tapering.
Research has identified many benefits of participating in online social support forums; however, the potential negative impacts of these communities have rarely been examined. This study explored the ...negative impacts of low quality (i.e., low person-centered) and insufficient (i.e., under-benefitted) emotional support on online support seekers. Health stigma and perceived support availability were also examined as mediating and moderating variables, respectively, in the model. An online survey of addiction support forum users (N = 321) was conducted. Results showed that for participants with low health stigma, low person-centered support decreased health self-efficacy through reducing perceived online emotional support availability, but under-benefitted support did not impact them. For those with high health stigma, low person-centered emotional support had positive effects on health self-efficacy through increasing perceived support availability, whereas under-benefitted support reduced health self-efficacy through decreasing perceived support availability. Importantly, a considerable proportion of participants (44.86%) reported under-benefitted emotional support. These findings suggest support forum participation can have negative impacts, but not all participants are adversely impacted equally. Instead, moderating variables, such as health stigma, can play an important role. Implications for future research and health care practitioners are discussed.
This study advances prior research on social comparison by testing the effects of social comparison direction, comparison distance, as well as message framing on perceived similarity, self-esteem, ...and health behavioral intention in the context of an online support group (OSG) for diet and weight loss. A 2 (comparison direction: up vs. down) by 2 (comparison distance: high vs. low) by 2 (framing: gain vs. loss) factorial experiment involving 275 adult participants was conducted online in the United States. Findings showed that participants perceived themselves to be more similar to the comparison target who was doing better than themselves than the target who was doing worse. The difference of perceived similarity between comparison directions was greater when comparison distance was low than high. However, upward comparison decreased self-esteem whereas downward comparison enhanced self-esteem. Perceived similarity and self-esteem both contributed to health efficacy, which led to health behavioral intention. Message framing did not show a significant impact on perceived similarity or self-esteem. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The integrated model of advice giving (IMA) proposes that advising in supportive interactions should be carried out in three sequential moves: emotional support—problem inquiry and analysis—advice ...(EPA). Prior research indicates the utility of this framework for effective advising in supportive interactions. The current project proposed and tested an extended integrated model of advice giving, adding eSteem support (S) as a fourth move in the sequence. Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 included 371 participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results showed that the emotional support—problem inquiry and analysis—advice—eSteem support (EPAS) sequence did not elicit significantly higher evaluations of advice quality compared with the EPA or emotional support—problem inquiry and analysis—eSteem support—advice (EPSA) sequence. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with 364 college students and found that, compared with the other two sequences, the EPAS sequence did not produce significantly higher evaluations of advice quality or intention to follow advice. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Fake or manipulated images propagated through the Web and social media have the capacity to deceive, emotionally distress, and influence public opinions and actions. Yet few studies have examined how ...individuals evaluate the authenticity of images that accompany online stories. This article details a 6-batch large-scale online experiment using Amazon Mechanical Turk that probes how people evaluate image credibility across online platforms. In each batch, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 28 news-source mockups featuring a forged image, and they evaluated the credibility of the images based on several features. We found that participants’ Internet skills, photo-editing experience, and social media use were significant predictors of image credibility evaluation, while most social and heuristic cues of online credibility (e.g. source trustworthiness, bandwagon, intermediary trustworthiness) had no significant impact. Viewers’ attitude toward a depicted issue also positively influenced their credibility evaluation.
Social network sites (SNS) have become convenient places for people to seek and provide social support and social support is important to individual well-being. Guided by the masspersonal ...communication model (MCM), this dissertation aims at understanding receiving and providing social support on SNS. It first examined the effect of SNS communication channels on supportive message quality evaluation and the support recipient’s probability of expressing appreciation. A 2 (channels: interpersonal vs. masspersonal) by 3 (support message: emotional vs. informational vs. tangible) by 2 (scenario: sickness vs. car) factorial experiment among 480 undergraduate students was conducted. Results show that the message sent through the one-to-one interpersonal channel was rated higher quality compared to the message sent through the masspersonal channel. When the message quality was rated as low, the support recipient was more likely to express appreciation to the support provider if the message was sent through the private channel than the masspersonal channel. When the message quality was perceived high, the recipient will likely express appreciation regardless of the channels. The second study investigated how message features, including valence and event referent of the post and the interface feature, i.e. an option that facilitates switching between public or private channels can influence support providers’ response and the use of private channels. A 2 (post valence: positive vs. negative) by 2 (event referent: self vs. other) by 2 (interface: channel switch button vs. no button) by 2 (topic: cancer vs. baby) factorial experiment was implemented among 423 participants on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results showed that when viewing a negative post, participants’ support provision efficacy and impression management efficacy were lower than viewing a positive post. Having the channel switch option can reduce the threats of negative post on support provision efficacy and impression management efficacy compared to not having the button. Support provision efficacy was positively related to the word count of participants’ comments while impression management efficacy was negatively related to the word count. Participants wrote comments with fewer cognitive processing words, more positive emotion words, and fewer negative emotion and I-pronouns when replying to the positive post than the negative post. When provided a channel switch button, participants were likely to switch to the private channel when responding to a negative post whereas stay in the public channel when responding to a positive post. Implications for social support research and practice was discussed.
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