Health-Care Professionals' Participation in an Online Discussion Forum: The Impact on Structure, Content and Interaction

ABSTRACT

The study investigates the impact by health-care professionals on a Norwegian Internet discussion forum. A comparison of the same forum in time-periods with either high or low level of professional involvement was performed. The hypothesis was that professional involvement would have marked effects on the interaction in discussion forums; among other things encourage short and factual/practical interaction patterns at the expense of social climate. A range of different methods were utilized, quantitative analysis, (qualitative) content analysis, and visual mapping. The results show differences between high and low professional involvement in the forum in terms of activity level, distribution over week-days, social presence density, and structure. Some methodological reflections are offered, as well as recommendations for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Social support
• Internet
• research design
• professional role