TY - JOUR
T1 - Giving and receiving social support in online substance use disorder forums
T2 - How self-efficacy moderates effects on relapse
AU - Liu, Yan
AU - Kornfield, Rachel
AU - Shaw, Bret R.
AU - Shah, Dhavan V.
AU - McTavish, Fiona
AU - Gustafson, David H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under Grant R01-DA034279 and the National Institute of Mental Health under grant T32 MH115882 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - Objective: Individuals in recovery for substance use disorders (SUDs) increasingly use online social support forums, necessitating research on how communicating through these forums can affect recovery. This study examines how giving and receiving support within an SUDs recovery forum predict substance use, and considers whether effects vary according to participants’ self-efficacy. Methods: We applied content analysis to 3440 messages that were posted by 231 participants in an online SUDs forum. Surveys assessed social support reception and substance use at three timepoints. We assessed relationships between giving and receiving support and substance use (risky drinking days, illicit drug use days), and the interactions between self-efficacy and social support in predicting substance use outcomes. Results: Receiving more emotional support was associated with reduced illicit drug use at 6 and 12 months. For those with low self-efficacy, giving more emotional support predicted less risky drinking at month 12, whereas giving more informational support predicted more risky drinking at month 12. Conclusion: These results suggest conditional benefits of exchanging support in an online SUDs forum, depending upon type of support (informational versus emotional), the participants’ role (giver or receiver), and their self-efficacy. Practice implications: We discuss implications for designing and using peer-to-peer support platforms.
AB - Objective: Individuals in recovery for substance use disorders (SUDs) increasingly use online social support forums, necessitating research on how communicating through these forums can affect recovery. This study examines how giving and receiving support within an SUDs recovery forum predict substance use, and considers whether effects vary according to participants’ self-efficacy. Methods: We applied content analysis to 3440 messages that were posted by 231 participants in an online SUDs forum. Surveys assessed social support reception and substance use at three timepoints. We assessed relationships between giving and receiving support and substance use (risky drinking days, illicit drug use days), and the interactions between self-efficacy and social support in predicting substance use outcomes. Results: Receiving more emotional support was associated with reduced illicit drug use at 6 and 12 months. For those with low self-efficacy, giving more emotional support predicted less risky drinking at month 12, whereas giving more informational support predicted more risky drinking at month 12. Conclusion: These results suggest conditional benefits of exchanging support in an online SUDs forum, depending upon type of support (informational versus emotional), the participants’ role (giver or receiver), and their self-efficacy. Practice implications: We discuss implications for designing and using peer-to-peer support platforms.
KW - Emotional support reception
KW - Online support groups
KW - Self-efficacy
KW - Social support expression
KW - Substance use disorders
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pec.2019.12.015
DO - 10.1016/j.pec.2019.12.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 31901364
AN - SCOPUS:85077150750
VL - 103
SP - 1125
EP - 1133
JO - Patient Education and Counseling
JF - Patient Education and Counseling
SN - 0738-3991
IS - 6
ER -