Why do some members engage much more in an online health community?

Information sheet

 Research study: Why do some members engage much more in an online health community?

Information for participants

 
We are a team of researchers from QMUL and University of Nottingham. Our research on peer support in long term conditions has highlighted the crucial role of members with a high level of engagement with the online health community, also called ‘superusers’: 10 superusers can sustain a community of 1,000 users.

Superusers were writing messages to other users at least every week for over 4 weeks.

We are interested in exploring your perspective as a highly engaged user, what motivates you to contribute to the community, are there any challenges you have encountered, and whether your contribution to the community can be supported in any way. We are very keen to learn about your experiences and your thoughts would be very welcome.

We would also like to explore your views about any potential role of healthcare professionals at your GP practice in supporting people with long term conditions taking part in established online health communities. This includes non-healthcare professionals or volunteers located at your practice to help connect people to community resources, for example through social prescription services.

Taking part is totally voluntary, and if you decide you do not want to, we will not contact you about it again.

We will ask you to answer 28 questions anonymously, collecting only information related to your age range, gender and education level, if you are willing to share them with us. All of your responses to the survey will be treated anonymously and stored in compliance with all legal data protection regulations (GDPR).

If you decide to take part, your consent to take part in this research will be given by clicking 'OK' to the question at the bottom of this page. By clicking 'OK' you consent to your personal data being processed, in accordance with GDPR.  This project has been approved by the Queen Mary University Research Ethic Committee, ref QMREC2205a.

Please read the following information carefully before you decide to take part; this will tell you why the research is being done and what you will be asked to do if you take part. Please feel free to contact Dr Anna De Simoni, Principal Investigator at a.desimoni@qmul.ac.uk if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.

We look forward to hearing your opinions and thank you in advance for your valuable contribution to this project.

Please see SurveyMonkey Privacy Policy: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/policy/privacy-policy/

If you have any questions or concerns about the manner in which the study is being conducted please, in the first instance, contact the researcher responsible for the study.  If this is unsuccessful, or not appropriate, please contact the Secretary at the Queen Mary Ethics of Research Committee, Room W104, Queen’s Building, Mile End Campus, Mile End Road, London or research-ethics@qmul.ac.uk.

Please read Queen Mary’s privacy notice for research participants for important information about your personal data and your rights in this respect.

This is found at: http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/media/arcs/policyzone/Privacy-Notice-for-Research-Participants.pdf