Communities of care and caring: The case of MSWatch.com®

Robert Weis; Keith Stamm; Craig Smith; Michael Nilan; Fiona Clark; Joan Weis; Kate Kennedy

doi:10.1177/1359105303008001449

Communities of care and caring: The case of MSWatch.com®

Robert Weis, Keith Stamm, Craig Smith, Michael Nilan, Fiona Clark, Joan Weis, Kate Kennedy

School of Information Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Can a health-care website stimulate its members to become a 'community of care and caring', facilitating both medical 'information' and personal 'support'? This study of MSWatch.com provides conceptual distinctions about 'ties' to a 'community' and raises questions about communications designed to serve patients with Multiple Sclerosis. An online survey of members of the website shows that members tend to: (1) make use of both its health-care information (care) and support (caring) functions, especially the former; (2) evaluate the website more highly overall if they make use of both information and support; (3) use the website the most during early stages of the disease; and (4) enhance their ties to the virtual community through using communication information and support.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	135-148
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal of Health Psychology
Volume	8
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105303008001449
State	Published - Jan 2003

Keywords

Community
Community ties
Health-care community
Patient community
Virtual community

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Applied Psychology

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10.1177/1359105303008001449

Cite this

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abstract = "Can a health-care website stimulate its members to become a 'community of care and caring', facilitating both medical 'information' and personal 'support'? This study of MSWatch.com provides conceptual distinctions about 'ties' to a 'community' and raises questions about communications designed to serve patients with Multiple Sclerosis. An online survey of members of the website shows that members tend to: (1) make use of both its health-care information (care) and support (caring) functions, especially the former; (2) evaluate the website more highly overall if they make use of both information and support; (3) use the website the most during early stages of the disease; and (4) enhance their ties to the virtual community through using communication information and support.",

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Communities of care and caring: The case of MSWatch.com®

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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