A Social Capital Theory Perspective Of Continuous Exercise Behavior of Users on Online Health Communities

Online health communities(OHCs) have become an effective medical supplement for self-management and self-recovery of chronic disease. Research on OHCs pays more attention to user participation and knowledge contribution, and there is few research focus on the impact on individual self-management behavior. In practice, we found that the participation behavior of OHCs does not necessarily translate into self-management behavior to prevent and treat chronic disease. This article explores the impact of social, environmental, and psychological behavior of patients in OHCs on patient self-management behavior from a social capital theory perspective. Analyzing a 30-day chat message and exercise record data of 150 users of a WeChat group and with common goal of improving physical condition through exercise, using social network analysis method to describe the patient network structure, combing with the content analysis method to explore the impact of social capital and off-topics on continuous exercise behaviors of users. The findings contribute to guide the construction and operation of OHCs.