TECHNOLOGY MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER? Attempts to Mediate Social Support through Technology in Health Care

摘要

Information and communication technologies are undergoing rapid development in the field of medicine, health and well-being. This paper focuses on information and communication technology as a new actor affecting well-being with particular attention to health communication and social support. In the field of health care the use of technology may be classified according to medical and communicative functions. The communicative function, in particular, is of great significance in relation to health. Health has often been seen as the absence of physiological disease, and the aim of the health care has been to offer a cure to a physiological illness. Today, in the field of health research the focus is also on the psychological and social dimensions of health. Social support has been seen as one of the salutogenetic factors that enhance well-being. This paper discusses the potentials of ICT in health care from the viewpoint of social support.