How Older Adults with Chronic Pain Manage Social Support Interactions with Mobile Media

ABSTRACT

Mobile media offer new ways for older adults to access and interact with their social support networks. While mobile media usage has been increasing among older adults, less is known about why older adults with chronic pain prefer to select members of their existing social network for quality social support interactions, what types of communication mechanisms they engage in when utilizing mobile media, and how they use their mobile media to manage their interactions and relationships. The analysis of 25 semi-structured interviews with older adults with chronic pain reveals that a sense of camaraderie and shared meaning of pain experiences underlie their preferences for communicating with similar others about chronic pain. On the other hand, having to take on a role reversal of comforting and receiving unsolicited advice are the main reasons for avoiding social support interactions with dissimilar others. Additionally, older adults strategically utilize specific features of mobile media such as SMS text messaging for short forms of validation and encouragement, staccato social support, and management of interaction coordination or avoidance. This study demonstrates how mobile technology can be adopted and appropriated to meet social, emotional, and interpersonal needs of older adults’ lives. It also provides important insights into communicative dynamics of pain-related social support interactions and communication channel selection of older adults. The way mobile media are used to leverage social interactions and support networks can contribute to self-management, health-promoting behavior, and overall quality of life for older adults with chronic pain.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Jessie G. Taft and Elizabeth Sowers for their assistance with various parts of the research project. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their guidance.

Notes

1. Although there is no agreed upon definition for mHealth, a common definition used by the World Health Organization refers to mHealth as “medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices” (World Health Organization, 2011, p. 6). Examples of the functions of mHealth devices include, but are not limited to tracking/monitoring symptoms and goals over time, delivering health interventions, providing reminder prompts, sharing information, enhancing socialization, and educating affected individuals.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Edward R. Roybal program project grant from the National Institute of Aging (2P30 AG022845, PIs, M.C. Reid, K. Pillermer, E. Wethington), Translational Research on Pain in Later Life.