Digitally Empowered: A Virtual Health Community as a Space for Support and Conversations

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dc.contributor.authorSethibe, Tsholofelo
dc.contributor.authorAbedin, Babak
dc.contributor.authorMarjanovic, Olivera
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-26T21:07:27Z
dc.date.available2024-12-26T21:07:27Z
dc.date.issued2025-01-07
dc.description.abstractThis 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.
dc.format.extent10
dc.identifier.doi10.24251/HICSS.2025.442
dc.identifier.isbn978-0-9981331-8-8
dc.identifier.otherd1459b65-d762-4b3c-8578-e88af3740aad
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/109286
dc.relation.ispartofProceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectSocial Media and Healthcare Technology
dc.subjectdigital empowerment, facilitation, social support, virtual health community
dc.titleDigitally Empowered: A Virtual Health Community as a Space for Support and Conversations
dc.typeConference Paper
dc.type.dcmiText
prism.startingpage3677

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