Abstract
The increasing volume of Internet based health resources means that decisions about how to trust information and advice encountered online become ever more complicated. As peer-to-peer experiences become a source of health information, lay people are required to evaluate the trustworthiness of such online personal accounts. In this paper, we present two contemporary studies of the negotiation of trust in e-health. The first study explores how people come to select a trustworthy voice from a community of online peers whilst the second explores how video bloggers use the medium to present a credible account of their health experiences. Drawing on data from interviews with community members, video transcripts and viewers’ comments, we examine issues of trust, language and advice from the perspective of those presenting the authentic voice as well as those seeking to evaluate the voice. The paper highlights the importance of similarity matching, motivation and interactivity to the portrayal and recognition of trustworthy accounts online.
Highlights
Across a range of conditions, the Internet acts as a major resource for health
We examined whether participants felt that Online support groups (OSGs) offered credible, genuine voices that were useful to them
Whilst participants acknowledged there was a risk that posters may not be genuine, the majority of participants considered the experiences and by implication the posters they had encountered on OSGs were authentic
Summary
Across a range of conditions, the Internet acts as a major resource for health (cf. Fox/Duggan/Purcell 2013). The data is analysed using thematic analysis (cf Braun/Clarke 2006) adopting a contextualist middle ground epistemological position (cf Tebes 2005) where human actions and experiences can be understood in terms of their social context whilst recognising the value of the reality of the individual experience This approach allows us to examine both the ways in which credibility is portrayed and assessed by people engaging with online accounts of personal health and wellbeing. Across both studies, we are working with English language data. We will give further pointers on methodological steps and data selection processes in Section 2 and Section 3 below
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
