research-article

Clinical Questions in Online Health Communities: The Case of "See your doctor" Threads

Author:

Jina HuhAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '15: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing

Pages 1488 - 1499

https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675259

Published: 28 February 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Online health communities are known to provide psychosocial support. However, concerns for misinformation being shared around clinical information persist. An existing practice addressing this concern includes monitoring and, as needed, discouraging asking clinical questions in the community. In this paper, I examine such practice where moderators redirected patients to see their health care providers instead of consulting the community. I observed that, contrary to common beliefs, community members provided constructive tips and persuaded the patients to see doctors rather than attempting to make a diagnosis or give medical advice. Moderators' posts on redirecting patients to see their providers were highly associated with no more follow up replies, potentially hindering active community dynamic. The findings showed what is previously thought of as a solution-quality control through moderation-might not be best and that the community, in coordination with moderators, can provide critical help in addressing clinical questions and building constructive information sharing community environment.

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Index Terms

Clinical Questions in Online Health Communities: The Case of "See your doctor" Threads
1. Applied computing
  1. Life and medical sciences
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '15: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing

February 2015

1956 pages

ISBN:9781450329224

DOI:10.1145/2675133

General Chairs:
Dan Cosley
Cornell University, USA
,
Andrea Forte
Drexel University, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Luigina Ciolfi
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
,
David McDonald
University of Washington, USA

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

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Published: 28 February 2015

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March 14 - 18, 2015

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CSCW '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 161 of 575 submissions, 28%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05663-w
Dunbar JPratt WBascom ECurrier CGarcia JSmith JSnyder JPollack A(2024)It's About the Journey - Capturing Stories of the Fluctuating Experiences of Youth Kidney Transplant PatientsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36537048:CSCW1(1-26)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
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