Impact of Homophily on Patient Empowerment: A Study of Online Patient Support Groups

Title

Impact of Homophily on Patient Empowerment: A Study of Online Patient Support Groups

Creator

Pandey V.; Mukherjee S.K.; Singh A.; Saha S.K.; Jha A.

Description

Internet facility has led to emergence of patient support groups. These have gained prominence as these fulfils important benefits to patients. One such benefit is patient empowerment. These online groups provide opportunity to patients to interact with similar ailments and predicaments and who can understand the pain and discomfort felt by the patient. This provides validation for the patient and patients experiences. How does this homophily impacts patient empowerment? This question has been explored in this study. The methodology is based on an online survey of patients visiting such online platforms. In all 701 patients provided the data. Independent variable (homophily) and dependent variable (patient empowerment) have been measured using a 7-point Likert scale. Findings provide that both are weakly correlated, but this correlation is significant. Regression analysis led to a regression model that is fit statistically. This provides basis to encourage patients to visit online support groups. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.

Source

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Vol-1243 LNEE, pp. 201-209.

Date

2025-01-01

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH

Subject

Homophily; Online health communities; Online patient support groups; Patient empowerment

Coverage

Pandey V., Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim, Majitar, Rangpo, India; Mukherjee S.K., Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim, Majitar, Rangpo, India; Singh A., Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, A Constituent of Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Maharashtra, Lavale, Pune, 412115, India; Saha S.K., Christ University, Bengaluru, India; Jha A., Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim, Majitar, Rangpo, India

Rights

Restricted Access

Relation

ISSN: 18761100; ISBN: 978-981976464-8

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Conference paper

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-6465-5_16

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85215806803&doi=10.1007%2f978-981-97-6465-5_16&partnerID=40&md5=4330778e1c1817467082c04eb8a69103