Connecting for well-being
A role-based network analysis of online mental health communities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21453178 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ezgi Akar (0000-0002-8582-2948, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 18 |
| Pages | 4566-4580 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-08 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Behaviour and Information Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-929X • E-ISSN: 1362-3001 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0144929x.2025.2484393 |
| OpenAlex | W4408951756 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 60 |
This paper attempts to fill two gaps: (i) offers a method to empirically identify and classify user roles based on patterns of topic engagement within online mental health groups, and (ii) reveals the influence of these roles on information dissemination in these virtual environments.We analysed 8,580 posts out of 90,626 from the r/MentalHealth subreddit. Our approach identified 12 main discussion topics: suicidal behaviour, mental well-being, emotional experience, interpersonal connections, education, sleeping, video gaming, professional life, depression and anxiety, cognitive recall, parenting, and panic attacks. Employing network theory, we obtained a topic-user network, including 8,962 relationships, based on the topics discussed. After a network projection process, we detected four subgroups in a user-user network of 7,564 users and 12,717,205 relationships. We classified user roles as life jugglers, mindful wellness seekers, resilient individuals, and emotional connectors. We investigated these users’ structural positions (‘centralities’) to assess their influence on information flow in the network. While wellness seekers, resilient individuals, and emotional connectors demonstrated that they played a vital role in disseminating their knowledge and experiences within the network, life jugglers did not exhibit any responsibility in information dissemination
Mental health · Psychiatry · Computer Science · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Mental Health via Writing · Psychology
Social Network Analysis
Co-authorship networks and research impact
Mental Health Discourse on reddit
Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars
Word of mouth and interpersonal communication
Network Analysis in the Social Sciences
Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification
Geography of Twitter networks
The asymmetries of the biopsychosocial model of depression in lay discourses - Topic modelling online depression forums
Exploring the Factors Associated with Mental Health Attitude in China
Public Opinion Manipulation on Social Media
Topic Modeling and User Network Analysis on Twitter during World Lupus Awareness Day
Development of a Scale Measuring Emotional Catharsis through Illness Narratives
Exploring the Chinese Public’s Perception of Omicron Variants on Social Media
The Taste for Privacy
Recent Developments in Role Theory
| Highly cited | No |
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