Abstract:
In the healthcare industry, thousands of patients and other healthcare consumers are using online health communities for support and health-related information. This is becoming more common for the inconvenience and costliness of solely relying on oneon- one appointments; which can be overwhelmingly inefficient for healthcare providers as well. This research investigates the use of social media in healthcare, considering social networking sites and how they can be used by our healthcare system. This will support and improve existing protocols of health-related interactions. Three theories are explored to outline the mechanisms of how social media influences healthcare. The first is social support; the understanding that an individual’s well-being can be enhanced through the exchange of emotional and informational resources with others online. Second, self-regulation; the understanding that online health communities stimulate users’ determination to perform health-related behaviours. Third, participatory health; the understanding that social media can be a platform to equalise the power between providers and consumers. In return, through mutual participation, ideas can be cultivated for better health outcomes and will help advance a patient-centred design of care. This thesis involves interviews with healthcare providers and healthcare consumers to integrate their perceptions about the implications of online health communities. The following points are the key outcomes produced from this research: 1. Both healthcare providers and healthcare consumers should cooperatively administrate online health communities to provide informational support by increasing the confidence and reliability of the content without jeopardising the patients ease of sharing. 2. A sense of relatedness should be reassured within the groups by the providers building rapport with the patients and facilitating the needs for patient autonomy and competence through the aggregation of knowledge. 3. Online health communities should push for patient-centred approaches by supporting patient participation and mutual partnership between the providers and consumers to achieve long-term health focuses and new clinical ideas and developments.
