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The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND: Online support groups provide opportunities for individuals affected by HIV and AIDS to seek information, advice, and support from peers. However, whether and how engagement with online support groups helps individuals affected by HIV and AIDS remains unclear, as does the nature of the e...

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Autores principales: Coulson, Neil S, Buchanan, Heather
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9364165/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35881456
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27648
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author Coulson, Neil S
Buchanan, Heather
author_facet Coulson, Neil S
Buchanan, Heather
author_sort Coulson, Neil S
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Online support groups provide opportunities for individuals affected by HIV and AIDS to seek information, advice, and support from peers. However, whether and how engagement with online support groups helps individuals affected by HIV and AIDS remains unclear, as does the nature of the evidence on this topic. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review sought to explore whether engagement with HIV and AIDS–related online support groups benefits members in terms of psychosocial well-being and illness management, whether members experienced any negative aspects of these groups, and what types of social support are exchanged within HIV and AIDS–related online support groups. METHODS: A scoping review of English-language articles (including both qualitative and quantitative studies) was undertaken using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The databases searched included MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, CENTRAL (Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials), and Scopus. Key findings were synthesized using a narrative and thematic approach. RESULTS: A total of 22 papers met the inclusion criteria from an initial pool of 3332 abstracts. These papers included 23% (5/22) quantitative studies, 9% (2/22) mixed methods studies, and 68% (15/22) qualitative studies published between 2007 and 2019. Cross-sectional evidence suggests that engagement with HIV and AIDS–related online support groups is empowering for members and may lead to a range of psychosocial benefits. Furthermore, qualitative evidence suggests that these groups provide an opportunity to connect with similar people and share experiences. This can help improve self-worth, reduce stigma, facilitate improved illness management, and gain greater confidence when interacting with health professionals. However, online support groups are not without their limitations as qualitative evidence suggests that users may encounter examples of interpersonal conflict between members as well as be exposed to challenging content. Finally, HIV and AIDS–related online support groups are avenues through which individuals can solicit support, most commonly informational or emotional. CONCLUSIONS: HIV and AIDS–related online support groups may have some benefits for members, particularly in terms of providing social support. There is a need for a systematic review of this literature that includes an assessment of the methodological quality of the available evidence.
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spelling pubmed-93641652022-08-11 The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature Coulson, Neil S Buchanan, Heather J Med Internet Res Review BACKGROUND: Online support groups provide opportunities for individuals affected by HIV and AIDS to seek information, advice, and support from peers. However, whether and how engagement with online support groups helps individuals affected by HIV and AIDS remains unclear, as does the nature of the evidence on this topic. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review sought to explore whether engagement with HIV and AIDS–related online support groups benefits members in terms of psychosocial well-being and illness management, whether members experienced any negative aspects of these groups, and what types of social support are exchanged within HIV and AIDS–related online support groups. METHODS: A scoping review of English-language articles (including both qualitative and quantitative studies) was undertaken using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The databases searched included MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, CENTRAL (Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials), and Scopus. Key findings were synthesized using a narrative and thematic approach. RESULTS: A total of 22 papers met the inclusion criteria from an initial pool of 3332 abstracts. These papers included 23% (5/22) quantitative studies, 9% (2/22) mixed methods studies, and 68% (15/22) qualitative studies published between 2007 and 2019. Cross-sectional evidence suggests that engagement with HIV and AIDS–related online support groups is empowering for members and may lead to a range of psychosocial benefits. Furthermore, qualitative evidence suggests that these groups provide an opportunity to connect with similar people and share experiences. This can help improve self-worth, reduce stigma, facilitate improved illness management, and gain greater confidence when interacting with health professionals. However, online support groups are not without their limitations as qualitative evidence suggests that users may encounter examples of interpersonal conflict between members as well as be exposed to challenging content. Finally, HIV and AIDS–related online support groups are avenues through which individuals can solicit support, most commonly informational or emotional. CONCLUSIONS: HIV and AIDS–related online support groups may have some benefits for members, particularly in terms of providing social support. There is a need for a systematic review of this literature that includes an assessment of the methodological quality of the available evidence. JMIR Publications 2022-07-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9364165/ /pubmed/35881456 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27648 Text en ©Neil S Coulson, Heather Buchanan. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 26.07.2022. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Review
Coulson, Neil S
Buchanan, Heather
The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title_full The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title_fullStr The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title_short The Role of Online Support Groups in Helping Individuals Affected by HIV and AIDS: Scoping Review of the Literature
title_sort role of online support groups in helping individuals affected by hiv and aids: scoping review of the literature
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9364165/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35881456
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27648
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