The Effectiveness of Social Media-Enabled Patient Communities on Health Goal Attainment: An Approach of Survival Analysis

Abstract

Health goal striving activities are a major part of the daily lives of those fighting chronic diseases. In this study, we are interested in understanding the effectiveness of social media-enabled online patient communities on the outcome of health goal striving endeavor - health goal attainment. Applying social cognitive theory, we study the antecedents of health goal attainment from the respects of social support and self-reflection in online patient communities. We apply Survival Analysis to a data set of patients’ interactions and their health goal progress from a leading online patient community. Our findings show that emotional social support can increase patients’ chance to achieve their goals while informational social support does not appear to be effective. In addition, health-related self-reflection increases online patients’ likelihood of goal attainment, but leisure-oriented self-reflection negatively affects the possibility.