Background Patient participation in the health care domain has surged dramatically through the availability of digital health platforms and online health communities (OHCs). Such patient-driven service innovation has both potential and challenges for health care organizations. Over the last 5 years, articles have surfaced that focus on value cocreation in health care services and the importance of engaging patients and other actors in service delivery. However, a theoretical understanding of how to use OHCs for this purpose is still underdeveloped within the health care service ecosystem. Objective This paper aimed to introduce a theoretical discussion for better understanding of the potential of OHCs for health care organizations, in particular, for patient empowerment. Methods This literature review study involved a comprehensive search using 12 electronic databases (EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, PubMed, Elton B Stephens Co [academic], Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Accelerated Information Sharing for Law Enforcement, Association for Computing Machinery, and Google Scholar) from 2013 to 2019. A total of 1388 studies were identified from the database search. After removing duplicates and applying inclusion criteria, we thematically analyzed 56 articles using the Braun and Clarke thematic analysis approach. Results We identified a list of 5 salient themes: communication extension, improved health literacy for patients and health care organizations, communication transparency with patients, informational and social support for patients, and patient empowerment in self-management. The most frequent theme was communication extension, which covers 39% (22/56) of the literature. This theme reported that an extension of communication between patients, caregivers, and physicians and organizations led to new opportunities to create value with minimal time and cost restrictions. Improved health literacy and communication transparency with patients were the second and third most frequent themes, respectively, covering 26% (15/56) and 25% (14/56) of the literature, respectively. The frequency of these themes indicated that the use of OHCs to generate new knowledge from patients’ interactions helped health care organizations to customize treatment plans and establish transparent and effective communication between health care organizations and patients. Furthermore, of the 56 studies, 13 (23%) and 10 (17%) studies contended the opportunity of using OHCs in terms of informational and emotional support and empowering patients in their self-management of diseases. Conclusions This review enables better understanding of the current state of the art of the online value cocreation and its potential for health care organizations. This study found that the opportunities for health care organizations through enhancement of patient participation and their cocreation of value in digital health platforms have been rapidly increasing. The identified gaps and opportunities in this study would identify avenues for future directions in modernized and more effective value-oriented health care informatics research.

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to investigate the potential benefits of online health communities (OHCs) for informal caregivers by conducting a systematic literature review. Secondly, to identify the relationship between the potential benefits of OHCs and resilience factors of older adults. Performing a thematic analysis, we identified the potential benefits of OHCs for informal caregivers of older adults, including two salient themes: (a) caregivers sharing and receiving social support and (b) self and moral empowerment of caregivers. Then, we uncovered how these potential benefits can support resilience of older adults. Our findings show that sharing and receiving of social support by informal caregivers, and self and moral empowerment of informal caregivers in OHCs, can support four resilience factors among older adults, including self‐care, independence, altruism and external connections. This review enables a better understanding of OHCs and Gerontology, and our outcomes also challenge the way healthcare and aged‐care service providers view caregivers and older adults. Furthermore, the identified gap and opportunities would provide avenues for further research in OHCs.

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the role of influential nodes on other users on Facebook social media sites by social and behavioral characteristics of users. Hence, a new centrality for user is defined, applying susceptible-infected recovered (SIR) model to identify influence of users. Results show that the combination of behavioral and social characteristics would be determined the most influential users that influence majority of nodes on social networks. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors define a new centrality for users, considering node status and behaviors. Thus, this node has a high level of influence. Node social status includes node degree, clustering coefficient and average neighbors’ node, and social status of node refers to user activities on Facebook social media website such as sending posts and receiving likes from other users. According to social status and user activity, the new centrality is defined. Finally, through the SIR model, the authors explore infection power of nodes and their influences of other node in the network. Findings Results show that the proposed centrality is more effective than other centrality approaches, infecting more nodes in social network. Another significant point in this research is that users who have high social status and activities on Facebook are more influential than users who have only high social status on the Facebook social media. Originality/value The influence of user on others in social media includes two key factors. The first factor is user social status such as node degree and clustering coefficient in social media graph and the second factor is related to user social activities in social media sites. Most centralities focused on node social status without considering node behavior. This paper analyzes the role of influential nodes on other users on Facebook social media site by social and behavioral characteristics of users.

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Background Patient-generated health data are increasingly used to record health and well-being concerns and engage patients in clinical care. Patient-generated photographs and videos are accessible and meaningful to patients, making them especially relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, a systematic review of photos and videos used by patients across different areas of health and well-being is lacking. Objective This review aims to synthesize the existing literature on the health and well-being contexts in which patient-generated photos and videos are used, the value gained by patients and health professionals, and the challenges experienced. Methods Guided by a framework for scoping reviews, we searched eight health databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science) and one computing database (ACM), returning a total of 28,567 studies. After removing duplicates and screening based on the predefined inclusion criteria, we identified 110 relevant articles. Data were charted and articles were analyzed following an iterative thematic approach with the assistance of NVivo software (version 12; QSR International). Results Patient-generated photos and videos are used across a wide range of health care services (39/110, 35.5% articles), for example, to diagnose skin lesions, assess dietary intake, and reflect on personal experiences during therapy. In addition, patients use them to self-manage health and well-being concerns (33/110, 30%) and to share personal health experiences via social media (36/110, 32.7%). Photos and videos create significant value for health care (59/110, 53.6%), where images support diagnosis, explanation, and treatment (functional value). They also provide value directly to patients through enhanced self-determination (39/110, 35.4%), social (33/110, 30%), and emotional support (21/110, 19.1%). However, several challenges emerge when patients create, share, and examine photos and videos, such as limited accessibility (16/110, 14.5%), incomplete image sets (23/110, 20.9%), and misinformation through photos and videos shared on social media (17/110, 15.5%). Conclusions This review shows that photos and videos engage patients in meaningful ways across different health care activities (eg, diagnosis, treatment, and self-care) for various health conditions. Although photos and videos require effort to capture and involve challenges when patients want to use them in health care, they also engage and empower patients, generating unique value. This review highlights areas for future research and strategies for addressing these challenges.