Purpose

Online health communities (OHCs) can be complementary to healthcare systems to improve the health behaviors of older adults with chronic diseases. This study aims to examine the impacts of habit and social support receipt on older adults' continued participation in OHCs. Particularly, the authors discussed the influences of social support received in two ways: social support received by initiating threads (direct social support receipt) and social support received by being exposed to the threads initiated by others (indirect social support receipt).

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the dual-process model (i.e. conscious process and unconscious process), the authors developed the research model. Data from one of the biggest online diabetes communities in Europe were collected. Besides, we used the support vector machine algorithm for social support classification and used the Cox proportion hazards model for model validation.

Findings

Older adults' continued participation is influenced by habit and indirect informational support. Habit moderates the relationship between direct informational support receipt and older adults' continued participation. Furthermore, direct and indirect emotional support receipt are both not associated with older adults' continued participation, regardless of their habit strength.

Originality/value

This is the first study investigating older adults' continued participation in OHCs based on the dual-process model. The findings of this study reveal that older adults' continued participation is determined by both the habit and specific conscious evaluation of benefits based on the social support receipt.

中文翻译：

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无意识还是有意识？习惯和社会支持对老年人继续参与在线健康社区的影响

目的

在线健康社区 (OHC) 可以作为医疗保健系统的补充，以改善患有慢性病的老年人的健康行为。本研究旨在检验接受习惯和社会支持对老年人继续参与 OHC 的影响。特别是，作者从两个方面讨论了获得的社会支持的影响：通过发起线程获得的社会支持（直接社会支持接收）和通过暴露于他人发起的线程获得的社会支持（间接社会支持接收）。

设计/方法/方法

基于双过程模型（即有意识过程和无意识过程），作者开发了研究模型。收集了来自欧洲最大的在线糖尿病社区之一的数据。此外，我们使用支持向量机算法进行社会支持分类，并使用 Cox 比例风险模型进行模型验证。

发现

老年人的持续参与受习惯和间接信息支持的影响。习惯调节直接信息支持接受与老年人持续参与之间的关系。此外，无论他们的习惯强度如何，直接和间接的情感支持都与老年人的持续参与无关。

原创性/价值

这是第一项基于双过程模型调查老年人继续参与 OHC 的研究。这项研究的结果表明，老年人的持续参与取决于习惯和基于社会支持收据对福利的具体有意识评估。