Achmad Ghazali

Citation

Thesis Title
Knowledge Construction in Health Support Group Online Discussions

Read article at Massey Research Online:

The ongoing transition to the patient-centred healthcare paradigm suggests that patients adopt an active role in managing their health conditions. As the result, the Internet is becoming an important source of health-related information. Internet-based health support groups allow patients to access diverse information relevant to their particular situation by participating in online discussions. The quality of such information may have effects on the patients’ outcomes. Achmad’s investigate the effects of knowledge construction in health support group online discussions on perceived information quality, information quality from the perspective of information consumers, and on information integrity, information validity from the point of view of the current state of scientific knowledge. It was hypothesized that knowledge construction results in better perceived information quality and in higher information integrity. Based on the findings, the study suggested that moderators of health support group online discussions should promote explicitation by encouraging clarifications and refinements of health-related recommendations. Moreover, participation of qualified health practitioners is desirable to promote health-related behaviours based on evidence-based knowledge and to expose recommendations that have uncertain or even dangerous effects.

Supervisors
Dr Alexei Tretiakov
Associate Professor Inga Hunter
Dr Barbara Crump