JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has drastically risen in recent years. For some, self-management includes the utilisation of GDM online communities on Facebook. Such communities can fill gaps in information and support participants are not able to access elsewhere to address unmet needs. Given the popularity of sharing information about pregnancy on Facebook and the documented benefit of diabetes online communities, the same may be true of GDM online communities.

Objective:

This study aimed to categorise and quantify what is being discussed in GDM Facebook groups, informational and/or emotional help-seeking behavior, and how this support and engagement may be demonstrated by peers through comments and reactions.

Methods:

Data was sourced from the two largest Facebook groups focused on GDM in Australia. A summative content analysis was conducted on original posts across the two groups and coded for themes as well as help-seeking type. The coding scheme was based on the previous work of Liang and Scammon. Visible indicators of engagement including number of comments and ‘reactions’ were tabled and manually evaluated.

Results:

There were 388 original posts, and the analysis produced six topics: GDM self-management (51.3%), GDM clinical management (30.9%), preparing for birth (10.3%), mental distress (9.0%), birth announcement (7.5%) and GDM journey reflections (5.4%). Secondary coding of help seeking type revealed more than half of the posts were informational help-seeking (55.9%), while a small proportion were both informational and emotional help-seeking (11.3%) and some (3.0%) were emotional help-seeking only. A total of 6081 comments were posted in response to original posts and there were 4394 reactions across all posts. Emotional help seeking attracted the most comments per thread (M=23.8), followed by informational and emotional help seeking (M=20.0), informational help seeking (M=15.8) and self-disclosure (M=14.8). Across all help-seeking categories, few reactions occurred compared to comments; in contrast, self-disclosure attracted a very large number of reactions (M=37.5).

Conclusions:

This is the first study to examine peer support in a GDM online community on Facebook. Our findings suggests that active participants’ needs around information and support in relation to GDM are being somewhat met by peer-led online communities. Given the practical limitations of formal healthcare, including the provision of ongoing social support, it is important to recognise how GDM online communities can complement formal healthcare and help address unmet needs.