Characteristics of shared health reflections in a local community

  • Authors:

  • Andrea Grimes;Brian M. Landry;Rebecca E. Grinter

  • Affiliations:

  • Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

We performed a content analysis of the information shared in a locally and culturally focused health application, EatWell. In EatWell, information is shared via the creation of audio recordings. Our results highlight the reflective nature of these recordings, in particular, 1) the topics discussed in these reflections as well as their tone, 2) how these reflections were contextualized (locally and culturally) and 3) how system users addressed one another in their reflections. We compare our findings with the dominant technological approach to supporting health information exchange amongst lay people: online support groups. In particular, we reflect upon why, though many of the community-building features of online support groups did not translate into EatWell, our users felt a sense of community empowerment. Based on our results, we discuss implications for designing locally and culturally focused health applications that leverage reflection as a contribution method.