Professional Online Support Group Facilitators: Guarantors of Maximal Group Utility

ABSTRACT

Synchronous online support groups (OSGs) represent a promising psychosocial resource, as they offer many of the same therapeutic factors as face-to-face groups as well as unique benefits (e.g., anonymity, convenience). Despite their advantages, OSGs also present challenges to participation, including lack of visual cues, disjointed text communication, and rapid pace, which render the presence of a professional facilitator especially important. This study involved an in-depth qualitative analysis of 38 sessions of four time-limited OSGs for informal caregivers (i.e., family) of patients with advanced-stage cancer. Results depict the ways in which four trained facilitators maximized the utility of their respective online groups—namely, by structuring and guiding, actively scanning, and modulating experiencing. These findings expand our limited understanding of the facilitative processes that take place in OSGs and may be clinically informative to professionals with an interest in this relatively novel group modality.

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Notes on contributors

Dana A. Male

Dana A. Male is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada. Karen D. Fergus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada and a Clinician-Scientist at Odette Cancer Center, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, ON, Canada. Joanne E. Stephen is a Clinician-Scientist in the Provincial Psychosocial Oncology Program, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Karen D. Fergus

Dana A. Male is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada. Karen D. Fergus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada and a Clinician-Scientist at Odette Cancer Center, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, ON, Canada. Joanne E. Stephen is a Clinician-Scientist in the Provincial Psychosocial Oncology Program, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Joanne E. Stephen

Dana A. Male is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada. Karen D. Fergus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON, Canada and a Clinician-Scientist at Odette Cancer Center, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, ON, Canada. Joanne E. Stephen is a Clinician-Scientist in the Provincial Psychosocial Oncology Program, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.