Benefits of Illness Blogging for Social Support and Intrapersonal Well-Being

• In Event: Online Social Support and Health

Abstract

This paper presents a basic qualitative study of the benefits of keeping a personal illness blog for orthognathic or jaw surgery patients and commenters on their blogs. The aim of the study was to determine what benefits patients received through placing personal intimate details of their condition and treatment including photographs in a public blog. After taking an inventory of available blogs written in English from 2003 through August 2014, twenty-five well-developed cases were selected for review. Beneficial statements from the blogs were categorized using House’s (1981) taxonomy of social support and Frank’s (1995) description of illness stories. Three of House’s forms of social support (informational, appraisal, and emotional) were useful for describing specific ways in which bloggers and commenters beneficially support one another through treatment. Frank’s description of illness stories was useful for explaining how the act of blogging in itself is beneficial to patients.

Author

• Marilyn B Mitchell, Bond U