Professional Peer Support in Online Health Communities: Evidence from COVID-19 Pandemic

Amin Sabzehzar, Reza Mousavi, T. S. Raghu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper investigates whether and what kind of social support exchange in Professional-only Online Health Communities (POHC). Focusing on the recent fast-growing outbreak-Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)- we find that healthcare professionals benefit from peer social support in POHCs, particularly by exchanging emotional support and learning from collective experience-based knowledge. Using the Reddit/r/medicine data, we show that posts' popularity varies depending on the authors' emotions and informativeness. In particular, a post's negative emotion and narrative tone have a significant and positive association with the post's popularity. These findings speak to the important role of POHC associated with healthcare professionals' integrity during the pandemic.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication28th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2022
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
ISBN (Electronic)9781958200001
StatePublished - 2022
Event28th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2022 - Minneapolis, United States
Duration: Aug 10 2022Aug 14 2022

Publication series

Name28th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2022

Conference

Conference28th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMinneapolis
Period8/10/228/14/22

Keywords

  • Coronavirus Disease 2019
  • Online Health Communities
  • Peer Support
  • Reddit

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Information Systems

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