Abstract As the general public rely more on social media for accessing health information, it is important to investigate how patients with complex chronic diseases use social media for symptom management. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study analyzes Crohn's disease patients' use of health information and its impact on their clinical course. The results show that health information on social media had provided the patients significant informational, emotional, and peer support, which mediated their treatment understanding, symptom management, and trust in doctors. When their symptoms went worse, the patients reported obtaining more support from social media groups, leading to better treatment understanding. A better treatment understanding resulted in more trust in doctors. But using social media groups that were not monitored by physicians reduced their trust in doctors. Initial evidence shows that health information could benefit patients like a complementary medical intervention. As an exploratory study, the results should be interpreted with caution as some findings may not be generalized to all complex chronic disease patients. This endorses the importance of studying patients' health information processing on social media as part of the effort for improving chronic illness care.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体上的健康信息有助于减轻克罗恩病的症状并改善患者的临床病程

摘要 由于公众越来越依赖社交媒体获取健康信息，因此调查复杂慢性病患者如何使用社交媒体进行症状管理非常重要。本研究以社会认知理论为指导，分析克罗恩病患者对健康信息的使用及其对临床病程的影响。结果表明，社交媒体上的健康信息为患者提供了重要的信息、情感和同伴支持，从而调节了他们对治疗的理解、症状管理和对医生的信任。当他们的症状恶化时，患者报告从社交媒体团体获得更多支持，从而更好地了解治疗方法。更好的治疗理解导致了对医生的更多信任。但是使用不受医生监控的社交媒体群组会降低他们对医生的信任。初步证据表明，健康信息可以像补充医疗干预一样使患者受益。作为一项探索性研究，应谨慎解释结果，因为某些发现可能无法推广到所有复杂的慢性病患者。这证明了研究患者在社交媒体上的健康信息处理作为改善慢性病护理工作的一部分的重要性。