research-article

Life transitions and online health communities: reflecting on adoption, use, and disengagement

Authors:

Michael Massimi,

Jackie L. Bender,

Holly O. Witteman,

Osman H. AhmedAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '14: Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing

Pages 1491 - 1501

https://doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531622

Published: 15 February 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Online health communities are places where people can come together in order to exchange social support at a particular point in an individual's life. There are, however, relatively few accounts that look across multiple communities across the lifespan. In this paper, we reflect on four case studies of research on different online health communities in order to identify patterns in how individuals selectively adopt, use, and disengage from these communities throughout their lives. We argue that users leaving communities is not necessarily a failing of the site's design or purpose; rather, it is a logical reaction to changing life circumstances. In characterizing this pattern, we contribute a set of implications for design and management that bear consideration by online community designers, developers, moderators, and end users. Ultimately this may lead to a smoother transition from community to community and ensure that social support needs are being met more consistently in response to changing life circumstances.

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Index Terms

Life transitions and online health communities: reflecting on adoption, use, and disengagement
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '14: Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing

February 2014

1600 pages

ISBN:9781450325400

DOI:10.1145/2531602

General Chairs:
Susan Fussell
Cornell University
,
Wayne Lutters
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
,
Program Chairs:
Meredith Ringel Morris
Microsoft Research
,
Madhu Reddy
Penn State University

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

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Published: 15 February 2014

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https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsfpid.2024.22.2.31
Karahanoğlu ATurmo Vidal LHarrison DSteane JEkhtiar TAlmeida TVallgårda ABalaam M(2024)Life in Transitions: The Role of Technology in Supporting Well-being in the Heart of ChangeAdjunct Proceedings of the 2024 Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3677045.3685470(1-5)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677045.3685470
Dunbar JPratt WBascom ECurrier CGarcia JSmith JSnyder JPollack A(2024)It's About the Journey - Capturing Stories of the Fluctuating Experiences of Youth Kidney Transplant PatientsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36537048:CSCW1(1-26)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
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