Digitally Empowered: A Virtual Health Community as a Space for Support and Conversations
Files
Date
2025-01-07
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
3677
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
This paper proposes the phenomenon of ‘digital empowerment’ and positions the research in the context of virtual health communities (VHCs) of informal carers. The proposed theorisation explains how the use of VHCs enhances user empowerment. In addition, the paper considers the effect of facilitation on digital empowerment of carers to enable their daily decision making. The study adopts a qualitative approach. A content analysis was performed on VHC discussions to explore the impact of VHCs on digital empowerment. Results demonstrate that digital empowerment exists in VHCs and is identified by the affective dimension in addition to the well-documented intrapersonal, interactional and behavioural dimensions of empowerment. Findings also show that the use of a VHC, facilitated by moderators, determines the type of facilitation (commanding, collaborative or motivating), and the approach used varied according to the user request.
Description
Keywords
Social Media and Healthcare Technology, digital empowerment, facilitation, social support, virtual health community
Citation
Extent
10
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.