Online social support for cancer caregivers: alignment between requests and offers on CaringBridge

Abstract

Objectives

Exploring CaringBridge, we describe types of social support caregivers requested, types of social support offered, and the alignment between the two.

Research approach

A retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive approach.

Sample

Twenty public CaringBridge sites.

Methodological approach

The Social Support Behavior Code system was adapted and applied to cancer-caregiver journal entries (n = 389) and guestbook posts (n = 2,466) to identify types of support (emotional, esteem, informational, network, tangible, and no support requested/offered). Matches between requests and offers were examined.

Findings

Cancer caregivers requested different types of support from their guests, most commonly emotional support. However, in most posts, caregivers did not request any support (n = 238, 61.18%). Guests offered all support types, but predominately offered emotional support (n = 2,353, 95%). When support was requested, 66.67% of requests received a matched offer within 24 hours.

Interpretation

Social media platforms may provide all types of support to caregivers.

Keywords:

• cancer caregiver
• family
• qualitative
• social media
• social support
• technology

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/FLQZP8, Texas Data Repository Dataverse.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge AnnMarie Walton PhD for her contributions as second coder for this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

Bloom was supported by an American Cancer Society Doctoral Scholarship (DSCN-13-266-01-SCN).