Research on online support groups - Bipolar disorder

To the admins : I have received Mr.Peter Waite's permission to gain access to the online support groups to conduct my research

Hi everyone

I'm a postgrad student and I'm doing a research on online support groups and would like you to participate in the survey. Just to confirm again "ALL PARTICIPANTS REMAIN ANONYMOUS". Please read the participation information sheet when you click on the survey link. This project is being undertaken as a part of an MSc; within the Institute of Work, Health & Organization (I-WHO), which is a postgraduate institute of applied psychology at the University of Nottingham. I am conducting a research on the \"Impact of online support groups on bipolar patients\".

The use of internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of human interactions and individuals are more comfortable discussing sensitive issues online.
The purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of online support groups and the extent to which it has helped members to cope with their problems.
The study involves a survey that is to be completed by the members of the group as well as messages posted by the members.

This study has been reviewed and has been given a favourable opinion by the Institute of Work, Health & Organization's Research Ethics Committee.
In order to accomplish this research, your consent and participation in this study would be greatly appreciated.
For further information regarding participation in this research please click on the survey link.

Thank you very much!! :)
Pooja

If you have any queries please contact:
Dr Neil. Coulson (Research Supervisor)
Institute of Work, Health & Organisations
University of Nottingham
Tel: +44 (0) 115 84 66642
Email:[email protected]

Pooja R Naik (Researcher)
Email:[email protected]

Here is a link to the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H5J2RCQ

I direct linked your survey - Kitt

 

Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 4/22/2012 12:31:55 PM (GMT-6)

Hi Pooja,

I found that the survey wouldn't let me pick "other" without picking a wrong answer first.

Also I only did the survey as to how I find Healing Well. I am a member of other mental health sites too.

If I can give public comments outside of the survey, I'd like to compare Healing Well to the other sites.

1. Holistic - Healing Well is about "Health". All health not just physical or mental health, which makes the site more holistic. Mental health is part of physical health. I think the site recognises that the brain is part of the body - and doesn't split us off, as if our disorders aren't physical, just because they happen above our necks.

2. Safety - The mods are protective of respect and safety, and will take action if need be, yet are not overly punitive if someone has a bad day. More often than not conflict is often resolved safely and respectfully between members - so something is working. What I'm trying to say is it is a less controlling site than most, but has much less conflict than most, and I'm not a mod and don't know how they organise modding here but it seems to work.

3. Covert Objectives and Paradigms - Some mental health sites are not very healthy behind the scenes. Some mental health sites can run by people who aren't very well themselves, with some axe to grind, which affects their impartiality in their administration of the site. Some mental health sites can be downright harmful to unsuspecting, vulnerable mentally ill people who do not share their world view - the admin that is, not the membership.

4. Membership - Not only nice people have mental illness. Mental illness can also make us feel positively horrid sometimes! Mental health support groups because they are attended by people (like me) with problems and higher emotion levels, they are much more likely to implode than some other types of support groups. Even though I manage my mental illnesses the best I can, I know I would be a much nicer person if I didn't have those demons I fight on a daily basis!

5 Healing Well may not have some the bells and whistles of other sites, but it works. We don't have pm's. We just have forums and chat. Some other sites will have pms but not chat. Many have all three. I have never been able to put my finger on it, but there is something about the no frills genuineness of the site that works. State of the art, fancy technology obviously is not required to have a successful sit.

6. The chat and the forums tend to cater to different crowds here. (Posting here you may be missing many who just come in for social chat or group chat). I run a group here and am happy to post your link in my groups next week to give you a better crosssection? We all go into each others rooms here, to chat socially (like a school camp lol), so you may find it difficult to isolate the mentally ill from the physical ill, unless you ask.

Cheers,

Jade

Hi everyone

Please do have a look at the survey. I need your responses in order to carry out my research and I'm really keen on bringing out the effectiveness of online support groups in my research.

Many thanks
Pooja

This is a little off-topic, but I wanted to address Living Well's post. This forum requires very little moderation (unlike forums about dogs!). Mods here all have a chronic illness themselves and sympathize easily. Mods have bad days, weeks, and months. There is a private mod forum which contains "watch for [this name] spammer", but more than that it is "I'm sick please moderate my forum for me." We're all in it together. I have great respect for everyone who suffers through the same things I do. I think the range of emotion and situation caused by disease makes us more empathetic people. As a moderator I trust our regular posters and in the rare occassion when a poster is out of order, I know it is because they are suffering from this disease and I try to support them while keeping posts within the forum rules.

Being anonymous helps. I'll be honest that I cannot stop myself from judging on appearance and behavior. This doesn't happen here. I can imagine that if we were all physically in a room together discussing something it would be absolute mayhem because every comment would be judged along with our impression of the other person. Sometimes we don't know if we're talking to a man or woman. Sometimes I'll be talking to someone I believe is about 30 years old and the person is decades older.

What I do need to say is that the relationships formed on healingwell have saved my life. 12/23/2010 I posted on my FB page "Goodbye". A friend I met here saw it and immediately understood my intention. She started sending me messages. My curiousity combined with her words are why I am alive today. We are the only people that understand each other. And after doctors, we're the only ones that can support each other.

Hi there Pooja! I completed the survey and found it most interesting. Thanks. Charmaine (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA)