Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 16, 2022
Date Accepted: Nov 30, 2022
Dr. Internet? The Empowering Role of Online Help-Seeking on Depressive Symptoms: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Most research on online help-seeking for mental health issues has focused on the antecedents of this behavior. Therefore, little is known about the outcomes of online help-seeking in general or for specific mental health issues.
Objective:
This article presents a systematic review of studies on both the antecedents and the consequences of online help-seeking behaviours for depressive symptoms.
Methods:
After a systematic literature search has been carried out in six scientific databases, 42 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis, of which 18 were considered in the meta-analysis.
Results:
Results indicate that people with depressive symptoms seek help online differently (e.g., using online support groups, the Internet or specific self-help tools). Additionally, people of Generation Z tend to participate in online support groups more than previous generations. According to the meta-analytic findings, online help-seeking was positively related to empowerment.
Conclusions:
More studies looking at the outcomes are needed together with a more rigorous assessment of online help-seeking behaviours. Ultimately, we propose a summary framework of the literature on this topic, including the antecedents, patterns of use, and outcomes of online help-seeking in the context of depressive symptoms.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.