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- Title
How Do Care Partners of People with Rare Dementia Use Language in Online Peer Support Groups? A Quantitative Text Analysis Study.
- Authors
Hayes, Oliver S.; El Baou, Celine; Hardy, Chris J. D.; Camic, Paul M.; Brotherhood, Emilie V.; Harding, Emma; Crutch, Sebastian J.
- Abstract
We used quantitative text analysis to examine conversations in a series of online support groups attended by care partners of people living with rare dementias (PLWRD). We used transcripts of 14 sessions (>100,000 words) to explore patterns of communication in trained facilitators' (n = 2) and participants' (n = 11) speech and to investigate the impact of session agenda on language use. We investigated the features of their communication via Poisson regression and a clustering algorithm. We also compared their speech with a natural speech corpus. We found that differences to natural speech emerged, notably in emotional tone (d = −3.2, p < 0.001) and cognitive processes (d = 2.8, p < 0.001). We observed further differences between facilitators and participants and between sessions based on agenda. The clustering algorithm categorised participants' contributions into three groups: sharing experience, self-reflection, and group processes. We discuss the findings in the context of Social Comparison Theory. We argue that dedicated online spaces have a positive impact on care partners in combatting isolation and stress via affiliation with peers. We then discuss the linguistic mechanisms by which social support was experienced in the group. The present paper has implications for any services seeking insight into how peer support is designed, delivered, and experienced by participants.
- Subjects
SPEECH evaluation; AFFINITY groups; SOCIAL comparison; SOCIAL support; CONVERSATION; INTERNET; SELF-perception; LINGUISTICS; QUANTITATIVE research; REGRESSION analysis; VIDEOCONFERENCING; LANGUAGE &; languages; SOCIAL isolation; T-test (Statistics); SUPPORT groups; PSYCHOLOGY of caregivers; DEMENTIA; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; THEORY; RESEARCH funding; TEXT messages; EMOTIONS; COGNITIVE testing; JUDGMENT sampling; DATA analysis software; STATISTICAL models; CLUSTER analysis (Statistics); POISSON distribution; REFLECTION (Philosophy); GROUP process; PSYCHOLOGICAL stress; EMAIL; ALGORITHMS
- Publication
Healthcare (2227-9032), 2024, Vol 12, Issue 3, p313
- ISSN
2227-9032
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/healthcare12030313