Health-Related Virtual Communities and Social Networking Services

Abstract

The literature indicates that a virtual community in health care as a group of people using telecommunication with the purposes of delivering health care and education, and/or providing support, covers a wide range of clinical specialties, technologies, and stakeholders. Examples include peer-to-peer networks, virtual health-care delivery, and research teams. Virtual communities (VCs) offer ubiquitous access to information and exchange possibilities for people in similar circumstances. This is especially valuable for patients with chronic/life-threatening diseases as they exhibit strong needs for information and interaction. Virtual communities and virtual relationships can improve the situation of all patients by offering them a place to establish social relationships that help them to cope with their situation. Although virtual relationships offer informational and emotional types of support, they do not seem to offer practical types of support. Therefore, virtual relationships can play an important role in complementing real-life social relationships, but they can never replace them.