Supporting Literature
Here is some of the published literature we found that suggests that online communities could be beneficial to this population of adolescents.
1. “Convening adolescent support groups is a challenge. Adolescents have a dependency on their parents for travel” (Johnson, Ravert, and Evertson). In studies done for sickle-cell patient support groups, “the most common reason for nonattendance were circumstances that made it difficult to attend (40%) and lack of transportation (33.3%)” (Telfair and Gardner). Teens often cannot make meetings due to sports and extra-curricular commitments.
Transportation, schedule conflicts prevent meeting attendance for adolescents. Online support groups could allow for adolescents unable to attend meetings to still be informed and receive support.
2. Most support groups only meet once a month, and take the summer and holiday season off. Community team bereavement programs are often times only offered a few times a year.
Not enough opportunity to discuss grief - once a month support meetings. An online community would allow teens a resource that's available any time or day when they need it, especially between support group meetings.
3. Online communities offer advantages over face-to-face groups such as “opportunities to discuss stigmatizing, embarrassing or sensitive issues in anonymity” (Till), which may be enhanced in adolescent years. The Harris Interactive YouthQuery survey found that a third of teenagers surveys, and 17% of pre-teenagers believe they are “able to share more with a friend online than in person” (Pew Internet and American Life Project). From these same surveyed 1200 adolescent “26% also felt more capable of talking about uncomfortable topics.”
Teens feel more comfortable in an online environment. Online support groups may allow teens to express their grief more comfortably and openly.
4. In the Harris Interactive YouthQuery survey, it was found that “55% of online teens use social networks and 55% of create online profiles” (Pew Internet and American Life Project). The survey defines social networking sites as “online place where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to other users.” Adolescents also use the internet frequently as it is often available to them in their homes, at school, at community places such as a library, and may even have access to it at other friends’ residences or another family member’s residence. “48% of the teens who visit the social networking site visit daily, while 22% visit several times a day. Teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships. 91% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see frequently, while 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friends they rarely see in person” (Pew Internet and American Life Project).
Adolescents are involved with the Internet already. Adolescents are already online, so why not connect with them via the Internet?
5. “Cancer-related electronic support groups (ESGs) may be regarded as complement to face-to-face groups when the latter are available, and as an alternative when they are not. Advantages over face-to-face groups include an absence of barriers imposed by geographic location, opportunities for anonymity that permit sensitive issues to be discussed and opportunities to find peers online. ESGs can be especially valuable as navigational aids for those trying to guide the journey” (Till). Another study followed nine cases of families and patients to see why they went online. “The study found that patients use the Internet for support and information seeking. The care studies showed patients enjoy the anonymity of online support groups go online to find information about alternative treatments, and find out information about their respective illness”. This study also found that “caregivers use the internet to find information and seek support. Posters to the chat room used the website to gather information, seek support, or report a condition. They found that participants in the chat room also took time to report on a loved one’s death, indicating a connection to the other posters. The study also found that caregivers used the website more frequently that the patients with cancer” (Willis, Demiris, and Parker Oliver).
Other populations have already successfully used online communities. If other communities have been successful online, there's a good chance online adolescent grief support may also be successful.
6. It has been found that “both hospice providers and service recipients benefit from web-based services. Patients in their study reported higher levels of access to providers, while providers received information from patients in a more timely manner” (Lind and Karlsson).”Despite positive results (over web-based services), very few hospice agencies currently offer web-based services to their patients and family caregivers” (Willis, Demiris, and Parker Oliver).
"For many reasons the Web has the potential of facilitating long-term communication needs of both youth and support agencies" (Jim Casey, 2001). "Teens are turning to the Web in rapidly growing numbers" (Lenhart et al., 2001). "Teens find the Web an attractive medium and are especially drawn to its favility for transmitting images and sound" (Cheskin Research, 1999).
Other studies believe hospices should go online as well.
