Open online peer support on dementia for family care partners in the Finland-Swedish minority context

Abstract

The aim of this study is twofold. On the one hand, it investigates what possibilities there are to find open online support discussions for Finland-Swedish family care partners of people living with dementia. On the other hand, it analyzes how support is expressed in those open discussions that can be found. The data of the study consist of two subsets: web pages and social media accounts of dementia care providers and Swedish-language media in Finland especially, and nine open Facebook threads with discussions on dementia expressing support to family care partners of people living with dementia. The first dataset is analyzed utilizing a passive nethnographic method. Focusing on expressions of emphatic communication, the second dataset is analyzed using content analysis and coded with the mixed methods software MAXQDA. As the results show, it is difficult to find open online channels for support discussions on dementia in Swedish in Finland. At the same time, the discussions that can be found convey how important they are to those participating in them. The availability of open online support discourses provides additional comfort and help to those living with dementia and their care partners. Online support discussions are thus important per se, irrespective of the fact that offline services are provided fully and sufficiently also in Swedish in Finland.