Giving and receiving emotional support online: Communication competence as a moderator of psychosocial benefits for women with breast cancer

Abstract

This study examines the moderating role of emotional communication competence in the relationship between computer-mediated social support (CMSS) group participation, specifically giving and receiving emotional support, and psychological health outcomes. Data were collected as part of randomized clinical trials for women diagnosed with breast cancer within the last 2 months. Expression and reception of emotional support was assessed by tracking and coding the 18,064 messages that 236 patients posted and read in CMSS groups. The final data used in the analysis was created by merging (a) computer-aided content analysis of discussion posts, (b) action log data analysis of system usage, and (c) baseline and six-month surveys collected to assess change. Results of this study demonstrate that emotional communication competence moderates the effects of expression and reception of emotional support on psychological quality of life and breast cancer-related concerns in both desired and undesired ways. Giving and receiving emotional support in CMSS groups has positive effects on emotional well-being for breast cancer patients with higher emotional communication, while the same exchanges have detrimental impacts on emotional well-being for those with lower emotional communication competence. The theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.

Emotional Approach Coping and the Effects of Online Peer-Led Support Group Participation Among Patients With Breast Cancer: A Longitudinal Study

“…Apart from intensity of online participation, patients also differ on aspects outside the online environment, which may affect online behavior and effectiveness of online support group participation as well. For example, recent studies suggest that individual differences in health self-efficacy [ 18 ], emotional communication competence [ 19 ], and differences in coping with emotions [ 20 ] might be moderating factors. In this study, we focus on patients’ level of emotional approach coping (ie, actively processing and expressing emotions).…”

After the ordeal: health communication messages in a pregnancy-OSG

“…The reiteration of one ordeal, the effort to overcome it and the knowledge shown from explaining medical terms hinted the emotional communication competence. Participants with emotional communication competence might felt self-efficacy by being able to provide support to other women (through her experience) (Yoo et al, 2014). Women who participated in this group can be considered as in the effort of finding answers and gaining support that might otherwise receive from their offline surrounding.…”

Expression and Reception: An Analytic Method for Assessing Message Production and Consumption in CMC

“…The InfoTrend system has been utilized for analyzing news media coverage across diverse areas, such as information management business, government projects (Bengston, Potts, Fan, & Goetz, 2005), and academic research (Fan et al, 2001; Jasperson, Shah, Watts, Faber, & Fan, 1998; Shah et al, 2002). Recently, this program has been successfully applied to analyze natural language used in online social support groups (Han et al, 2011; Kim et al, 2011; Namkoong et al, 2010, 2013; Yoo et al, 2014). …”

“…If there are multiple waves of data collection, message production and consumption can be calculated based on the intervening time period and integrated into the survey data on that basis (Yoo et al, 2013). Merging survey data into the content coding and action log data sets, more specifically, researchers have investigated the psychological benefits of emotional and informational support expression and reception occurring within CMSS groups for breast cancer patients (Han et al, 2011; Namkoong et al, 2010, 2013; Yoo et al, 2014). For example, Namkoong et al (2013) found that expression, but not reception, of emotional support increases cancer patients’ perceived bonding with other patients in CMSS groups, which in turn mediates the effects on positive coping strategies.…”

“…Specifically, in this article, we present a novel method that combines three distinct analytic approaches: computer-aided content analysis, action log data analysis and survey data analysis. Recent studies have successfully used this methodology to examine the nature of message expression and reception occurring within CMC (Han et al, 2011; Kim et al, 2011; Namkoong et al, 2010, 2013; Yoo et al, 2014). In addition, we discuss how the resulting data can be used for social network analysis.…”