{"title":"A critical analysis of online social support for young people experiencing chronic pain.","authors":"Eliza Kavanagh, Anna Chur-Hansen, Nicki Ferencz","doi":"10.1080/00049530.2023.2216303","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly public health problem for young people. The associated physical, psychosocial, and psychological burdens, including higher degrees of social isolation, are well documented. Pathways to receive and offer support can be found with online social support (OSS). Research indicates OSS features impact the frequency of use, reach, safety and overall experience for the user.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a rigorous internet search to identify and appraise the available English-language OSS worldwide for young people with chronic pain. Through Google, two complementary search strategies were used to identify the available OSS. The general characteristics and features of the available OSS were then extracted.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The search strategies produced a total yield of 1319 websites of which 11 OSS websites were identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Characteristics of OSS varied significantly, such as moderation, site access requirements and safeguarding features. Only two of the OSS sites, both being affiliated with a hospital, offered all of the features suggested by the literature to mitigate the potential for harm.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Despite the prevalence of chronic pain in young people and clear benefits to utilise support online, there is a paucity of available high-quality OSS available for access and support. When young people do go online with the hope to receive support, a safe space to share experiences may not be easily found. It appears an important opportunity is being missed for this group to foster social connections that may be unavailable offline.</p>","PeriodicalId":8871,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"2216303"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12175694/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australian Journal of Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2023.2216303","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly public health problem for young people. The associated physical, psychosocial, and psychological burdens, including higher degrees of social isolation, are well documented. Pathways to receive and offer support can be found with online social support (OSS). Research indicates OSS features impact the frequency of use, reach, safety and overall experience for the user.
Methods: We conducted a rigorous internet search to identify and appraise the available English-language OSS worldwide for young people with chronic pain. Through Google, two complementary search strategies were used to identify the available OSS. The general characteristics and features of the available OSS were then extracted.
Results: The search strategies produced a total yield of 1319 websites of which 11 OSS websites were identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Characteristics of OSS varied significantly, such as moderation, site access requirements and safeguarding features. Only two of the OSS sites, both being affiliated with a hospital, offered all of the features suggested by the literature to mitigate the potential for harm.
Conclusions: Despite the prevalence of chronic pain in young people and clear benefits to utilise support online, there is a paucity of available high-quality OSS available for access and support. When young people do go online with the hope to receive support, a safe space to share experiences may not be easily found. It appears an important opportunity is being missed for this group to foster social connections that may be unavailable offline.
期刊介绍:
Australian Journal of Psychology is the premier scientific journal of the Australian Psychological Society. It covers the entire spectrum of psychological research and receives articles on all topics within the broad scope of the discipline. The journal publishes high quality peer-reviewed articles with reviewers and associate editors providing detailed assistance to authors to reach publication. The journal publishes reports of experimental and survey studies, including reports of qualitative investigations, on pure and applied topics in the field of psychology. Articles on clinical psychology or on the professional concerns of applied psychology should be submitted to our sister journals, Australian Psychologist or Clinical Psychologist. The journal publishes occasional reviews of specific topics, theoretical pieces and commentaries on methodological issues. There are also solicited book reviews and comments Annual special issues devoted to a single topic, and guest edited by a specialist editor, are published. The journal regards itself as international in vision and will accept submissions from psychologists in all countries.