The Implications of Stigma and Anonymity for Self-Disclosure in Health Blogs

Rains, Stephen A.

doi:10.1080/10410236.2012.714861

Cited by 96 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…That this may be the case is reflected in a recent study which found a positive relationship between anonymity and self-disclosure among bloggers who were embarrassed by their ailments (Rains, 2014). Selfdisclosure is important to the extent that it promotes coping and helps draw in additional social support, a factor in promoting improvements in subjective wellbeing and understanding.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…By enabling people to express themselves in a relatively risk-free context, the anonymity blogging provides may be especially important for achieving catharsis and coping among those suffering from or caring for someone with a stigmatizing mental illness or condition (Boniel-Nissim & Barak, 2013;Ko & Kuo, 2009;Rains, 2014;Sundar et al, 2007). That this may be the case is reflected in a recent study which found a positive relationship between anonymity and self-disclosure among bloggers who were embarrassed by their ailments (Rains, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Life and Death in the Mental-Health Blogosphere: An Analysis of Blog Content and Survival

Miller¹,

Pole²,

Usidame³

2015

World Medical &Amp; Health Policy

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The purpose of this study was to describe a sample of mental-health blogs, to determine the proportion of sampled blogs still posting several years after identification, and to identify the correlates of survival. One hundred eighty-eight mental-health blogs were identified in 2007-08 and revisited in 2014. Eligible blogs were U.S.-based, in English, and active. Baseline characteristics and survival status were described and variation based on blog focus and survival examined. Mental-health bloggers tended to be females blogging as patients and caregivers focusing on specific mental illnesses/conditions. The proportion of blogs still active at follow-up ranged from 25.5 percent to 30.3 percent depending on the definition of survival employed. Factors associated with survival included sponsorship/advertising and assumption of a professional/caregiving rather than patient/consumer perspective. Because professionally authored blogs with sponsorship/advertising tend to be longer lived, they may have disproportionate impact on the help-seeking behavior of individuals referred to them by search engine results. This suggests the need to promulgate and adhere to rules governing disclosure of real or perceived conflicts of interest, particularly given the growing use of industry paid/driven content.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life and Death in the Mental-Health Blogosphere: An Analysis of Blog Content and Survival

Miller¹,

Pole²,

Usidame³

2015

World Medical &Amp; Health Policy

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“…We believe this may be relevant to take into account when considering to what extent an eating disorder may be exacerbated by various comments. According to Rains (2014), anonymity as a blogger may help mitigate the effects of a potential exacerbation and facilitate ongoing illnessrelated self-disclosure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young Women With Anorexia Nervosa

et al. 2015

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The aim of this study was to describe how young women living with self-identified anorexia narrate about their lives by blogging. Thirteen Swedish blogs were chosen and analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis. The results described falling ill, the illness itself, and the path to recovery. Low self-esteem, depressed state of mind, and self-destructive behavior were typical signs at the start of the illness. The women's lives were characterized by a need for controlling their body by tormenting it and by the illness demanding all their concentration and energy. The women suffered from the feeling of being a disappointment to their family members. The illness was like an enemy that had to be defeated with the help of family members, health care professionals, and by means of therapy. A turning point occurred when the women felt at their worst or had tired of the illness and could concentrate on something other than their body and the eating disorder. Suffering from self-identified anorexia was described as experiencing low self-esteem. The illness took all of the women's time and energy. For a turning point to be reached, the women needed support from family, friends, and health care professionals, including the use of distractions.

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“…As noted above, we know that anonymity can cause disinhibition that has both positive (Rains, 2014;Turkle, 1995) and negative (Binns, 2013;E. Whittaker & Kowalski, 2015) effects.…”

Section: What Are People Doing?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, people could admit to common failings, such as poor academic performance, and reap the possible benefits of support (via upvotes) without being accountable or even visible to the people providing the support. In some ways this resembles prior online support forums or discussions (Rains, 2014;White & Dorman, 2001) but these were often characterized by persistent pseudonymous identity and revolved around longer-term support. On Yik Yak, identities and content are ephemeral.…”

Section: Implications For Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

(In)visible Cities: An Exploration of Social Identity, Anonymity and Location-Based Filtering on Yik Yak

Heston¹

iConference 2016 Proceedings

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The recent popularity of mobile, anonymous social interaction applications that filter content based on location (i.e., people see what others nearby have posted) has led to concerns about anonymity enabling negative behavior such as abuse or cyber-bullying. Anonymity can also have positive effects, however, and the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) suggests that people's behavior in anonymous online environments can be affected by whether they identify more with the community or more as a disconnected individual. In location-filtered apps, however, online anonymity is combined with a physically local audience. This complicates our understanding of online anonymity because identities users feel can stem both from the online and offline environments. We present an exploratory mixedmethods study of Yik Yak, a popular location-filtered app. Results suggest that people use language to invoke a geographically local group identity via shared references. People's responses to content, moreover, seem to be related to their identity as members of the online community.

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The Implications of Stigma and Anonymity for Self-Disclosure in Health Blogs

Cited by 96 publications

References 45 publications

Life and Death in the Mental-Health Blogosphere: An Analysis of Blog Content and Survival

Life and Death in the Mental-Health Blogosphere: An Analysis of Blog Content and Survival

Young Women With Anorexia Nervosa

(In)visible Cities: An Exploration of Social Identity, Anonymity and Location-Based Filtering on Yik Yak

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