Belonging, Affirmation, Safety, and Efficacy (BASE): An Integrative Model for Shame Resilience, Social Support, and Humor in r/hemorrhoid

ABSTRACT

The present study sought to understand how participants in r/hemorrhoid used three coping strategies to improve their health and wellbeing. Drawing upon Shame Resilience Theory (SRT), the typology of social support, and the classification of humor styles, a theory-driven approach to qualitative analysis resulted in the identification of the following themes: Belongingness (building authentic connections with others), Affirmation (asserting the value of own experiences), Safety (feeling able to express emotions and needs), and Efficacy (exchanging information and advice for recovery). The study presents a coping model (BASE) that can inform research on communication patterns in contexts beyond other health conditions. Practical implications are derived from users’ psychological distress and their reliance on diagnostics and treatment advice from peers, offering directions for supporting individuals with hemorrhoids.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editor, Dr. Teresa L. Thompson, and the two anonymous reviewers, for their feedback on this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data were collected at the University of Alabama using Sprinklr through the Public Opinion Lab. Due to the lab agreement with Sprinklr, the data is not publicly available.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.