Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group
Existing studies show that people suffering from chronic illnesses turn to online health communities not only to share and check relevant factual information but also to receive and express empathy from/to their fellow sufferers. Indeed, along with seeking and providing advice from and to others, ex...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49763/ |
| _version_ | 1848798072817057792 |
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| author | Pounds, G. Hunt, Daniel Koteyko, Nelya |
| author_facet | Pounds, G. Hunt, Daniel Koteyko, Nelya |
| author_sort | Pounds, G. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Existing studies show that people suffering from chronic illnesses turn to online health communities not only to share and check relevant factual information but also to receive and express empathy from/to their fellow sufferers. Indeed, along with seeking and providing advice from and to others, expressions of social support, including empathic features, have been found to be central to discourse in online support groups (OSGs). This is the first study to use a pragmatics-based discourse analytic approach that focuses on ‘‘empathic communicative acts” (Pounds and De Pablos-Ortega, 2016) to investigate the expression of empathy on a social networking site (SNS), and specifically in a Facebook support group or FSG. The analysis is applied to 560 messages to a type 2 diabetes FSG and explores how empathy is expressed within the multidialogic context of asynchronous interaction. The study helps qualify the supportive value of FSGs and provides the basis for further studies of empathic communication in other SNS contexts. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:13:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49763 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:13:58Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-497632019-02-27T04:30:12Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49763/ Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group Pounds, G. Hunt, Daniel Koteyko, Nelya Existing studies show that people suffering from chronic illnesses turn to online health communities not only to share and check relevant factual information but also to receive and express empathy from/to their fellow sufferers. Indeed, along with seeking and providing advice from and to others, expressions of social support, including empathic features, have been found to be central to discourse in online support groups (OSGs). This is the first study to use a pragmatics-based discourse analytic approach that focuses on ‘‘empathic communicative acts” (Pounds and De Pablos-Ortega, 2016) to investigate the expression of empathy on a social networking site (SNS), and specifically in a Facebook support group or FSG. The analysis is applied to 560 messages to a type 2 diabetes FSG and explores how empathy is expressed within the multidialogic context of asynchronous interaction. The study helps qualify the supportive value of FSGs and provides the basis for further studies of empathic communication in other SNS contexts. Elsevier 2018-02-27 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nc_nd https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49763/1/DCM%20Article%20Rev%20CLEAN.docx Pounds, G., Hunt, Daniel and Koteyko, Nelya (2018) Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group. Discourse, Context & Media . ISSN 2211-6958 (In Press) Empathy; Empathic communicative acts; Advice; Facebook-based support group; Diabetes; Discourse doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2018.01.008 doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2018.01.008 |
| spellingShingle | Empathy; Empathic communicative acts; Advice; Facebook-based support group; Diabetes; Discourse Pounds, G. Hunt, Daniel Koteyko, Nelya Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title | Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title_full | Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title_fullStr | Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title_full_unstemmed | Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title_short | Expression of empathy in a Facebook-based diabetes support group |
| title_sort | expression of empathy in a facebook-based diabetes support group |
| topic | Empathy; Empathic communicative acts; Advice; Facebook-based support group; Diabetes; Discourse |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49763/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49763/ |