8- People You Wouldn't Want to Say "Kill Yourself" To

Unfortunately, I missed last week’s classes because I was sick and, consequentially, I waited until Monday too start this assignment, which meant that I was unable to find a partner in time. Because I was unable to get a second coder, there was no opportunity to calculate an inter-rater reliability percentage. However, I did manage to code 20 messages under the same thread. The thread I chose to discuss was a “depression support group.” Here is my table:

inter-rater reliability 0
frequency % of msgs
Information 15 0.75
Tangible assistance 8 0.4
Esteem support 9 0.45
Network support 9 0.45
Emotional support 10 0.5
Humor 4 0.2



Essentially, I found a lot of incoherence from one frequent messager, “David.” For the most part, his messages consisted of short blurbs and random haikus and he rarely provided any focused posts (I still don’t know why). Therefore, doing what I could for this assignment required me to sift through some messages and decide on substantial and meaningful “support-like” messages. In my table, Information was most frequent comprising 15 of the 20 messages. Braithwaite says “messages coded as information support appeared to reduce uncertainty or help make life more predictable for the message recipient.” (Braithwaite et al, 1999) I found that most of the messagers provided responses and feedback to other people within the group. Usually it was set-up where one person would post a desperate message almost begging for someone to help them, and responses would come with inspirational advice, links to websites, and attempts to diagnose the messager’s problems. Also in this particular support group, situation appraisals where a “redefinition of circumstances” was a frequent aspect of information type posts. On rare occasion, I found humor in some messages. These seemed to be an attempt to make light of their depressing descriptions of their situation. I did, surprisingly, find some Tangible Assistance between two messagers that seemed to have known each other outside of the group or could have just been “intersecting frequently” within the group. Usually, it was the expression of willingness to help whether it be meeting each other to discuss issues, or taking someone to a psychiatrist for help. Another frequent and interesting code was Emotional Support. Comprising 10 of 20 posts, I found that Emotional Support came, for the most part in the forms of encouragement and sympathy. In some cases of “David the Haiku Herald” I considered his short, random messages to be emotional support—like a prayer. Braithwaite says that in her study, “any referrals to experts (e.g. physicians, counselors) were coded as informational support.” Therefore, any direct information for a psychiatrist was not considered Network Support. However, I found that some responses were very helpful in the form of Network Support. Often, not only was advice included in the responses, but also direct contact information to other people with depression who were in the group but had not posted recently or other therapy support group links for depression. Esteem Support was frequent, though it was less frequent than I expected from a depression support group. Often, respondents offered Esteem Support in the form of relief from blame. When there was Esteem Support, it made the group seem more cohesive and reciprocal—something Wallace deems important in social support.

In relating my findings to Braithwaite’s study, I found that they were somewhat similar. My results indicated high frequencies in the forms of Informational Support (this being the most frequent), Emotional Support, and Esteem Support much like that of Braithwaite’s results. Also, Walther & Boyd’s study was also applicable. I fid that the increased anonymity in online support groups (both perceived and real) were especially important when avoiding embarrassing or negative messages and I believe that in the case of responses to depression people were more apt to provide positive feedback with helpful support. In one case, someone used “%” as their username and still received the same amount of support and confidently provided their personal circumstances when dealing with depression. I also think that Walther & Boyd’s description of “access” of support groups became important in groups for depression. Granted that users may live in different time zones, I’m sure that some if the 4:55 a.m. posts were really in the middle of the night or that early in the morning and I’m sure that it helped to elicit quicker responses and positive feedback to some people who were in extremely desperate situations. This 24-hours/7 days a week online accessibility becomes very useful when people are suffering from insomnia or even thoughts of suicide! Ultimately, I felt that the online support groups were a good way for someone who may be a bit more timid than most in such a vulnerable position (I think we all are in these type of situations) to discuss their problems and search for help.

Link:http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.depression/topics?lnk=srg