Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 20, 2020
Open Peer Review Period: Nov 20, 2020 - Jan 15, 2021
Date Accepted: May 24, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A qualitative evaluation of the value of an online peer support community for people with depression: Depression Connect
ABSTRACT
Background:
Despite their popularity, the efficacy of online peer support communities for individuals with depression remains unclear. Little is known about the working mechanisms of online communities in general and for depression specifically. The evidence for the efficacy of online peer support for depression is confounded by methodological issues and ambiguity of relevant outcome measures.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of an online peer support community for depression from a user perspective. By employing qualitative modes of inquiry, the aim was to generate hypotheses on the mechanisms of change and outcomes of online peer support usage in depression.
Methods:
Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with users of the online peer support community Depression Connect [DC], in which experiences and outcomes of forum use in coping with depression were examined. To explore diverse perspectives of community usage, theoretical sampling was performed, and negative cases were included.
Results:
A complex set of factors seemed to influence the subjective usefulness of the online peer support community DC from a consumer perspective. The data revealed 4 distinctive user experiences: A sense of belonging, emotional growth, self-efficacy, and empowerment. Furthermore, losing oneself was the central negative aspect of forum use. The deployment and development of 3 differentiated user roles (e.g., reading, posting, responding) seemed to individually and interactively affect user experiences. Finally, the online peer support community seemed to serve as a digital realm to practice and reflect on coping with depression and was mainly used as a supplement to offline support for depression.
Conclusions:
The DC online peer support community allowed individuals familiar with depression to learn how to cope (better) with depression and practice these newly gained insights/skills. It may serve as a supplement to formal care for depression.
Citation
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