Digitalized social support in the healthcare environment: Effects of the types and sources of social support on psychological well-being

Abstract

The positive benefits of social support within healthcare communities are well documented. However, with the increasing number of online healthcare communities, digitalized social support requires further scrutiny. Additionally, it remains unclear which type of social support contributes most to a support seeker's psychological well-being and happiness. Drawing on the theory of social support, this research investigates the interactional effect of the social support types and sources of social support on one's well-being and happiness in the digitalized healthcare environment. Employing two experiments involving an online healthcare community of Chinese parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this research also examines the mediating effect of social relationship coping efficacy. The findings suggest that emotional support in the digital environment results in a higher level of well-being and happiness than informational support offers, and such significant differences are due to individual variations in social relationship coping efficacy. Further, counterintuitive to the received wisdom, emotional support from community members results in higher well-being and happiness than such support from close family members. The study has important implications for healthcare community managers and close family members by encouraging emotional support that leads to increased well-being and happiness.