Informational Needs of Urinary Incontinent Patients on Online Peer Support Groups- A Pilot Study

摘要

People suffering from Urinary Incontinence (UI) seek support and advice through online communities. Theresearch team conducted a content analysis of nafc.org to investigate characteristics of informationsearched by users to analyze the effectiveness of this forum. Forty posts and the corresponding 249responses were randomly selected and analyzed using a classification system derived by a research teamfrom a nursing department in one of the universities in the southeastern region of the United States. TheLinguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) generated an average tone rating of 35.21 for question postsand 53.20 for response posts. The findings highlighted the user’s need to seek advice concerning symptomsof UI resulting in 72.5% of question posts in this category and the responders need to empathize with theinitial poster by sharing their own experiences resulting in 41.76% of responses in this category. We plan tocontinue the study with the analysis of 200 questions and their corresponding responses to better explorethe emotions and needs shared in the forum.