Slashdot Mirror
Web Chats Help the Chronically Ill
Stephen Samuel writes "Both the CBC and the BBC are reporting on the results of a survey which found that along with an informative, up-to-date, and non-commercialized site, chat-rooms are crucial to the health and well-being of chronically ill patients being provided with 'interactive health communication applications'. Read the original
summary of the report (PDF), or
google's HTML translation of same" From the BBC article: "The researchers found such sites have largely positive effects on users, making them feel better informed and more socially supported. Overall, people who used such sites appeared to see improvements in the way they looked after their health and in their clinical condition. They also had improved self-efficacy - a person's belief in their ability to carry out potentially-beneficial actions. "
Socializing makes humans feel better.
Rob
..were Web Chats Help the Chronically II and Web Chats Help the Chronically I posted?
I know one chronic illness it doesn't do anything good for - MMORPG addictions.
One of the super secret benefits of the internet is the way the seemingly unconnected can be connected.
In other words as social beings we don't do well without contact with others.
My name is Sir Pallas.. and I am.. chronically.. three.
Social interaction with others in a similar situation and becoming an active participant in your treatment. The chat room part is just a new convenient mechanism for accomplishing that.
You'll never walk (or do anything else) alone! http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/technology/23col lege.html?emc=eta1
WTF???
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Translation: Nobody likes pop-ups, pop-unders, annoying Flash ads, "Will you take our survey?" ads, or obvious commercial slant on Web pages.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
One of the major things that influence the treatment of an illness, especially in psychology is the patient and doctor's belief that the treatment will actually work.
Now wouldn't this study just perpetuate the positive effects of socializing over the internet by making patients think it's a part of the treatment that will work?
Sounds good to me.
When are 'Web Chats Help the Chronicly' 1 & 2 coming out?
Because the people helping out with all of that interactive, positive-anecdote information on Exploding Growth Micro-Cap Stocks all seem so generous with their time, and their message boards are all so positive and upbeat. I always feel so good about the time I spend learning about my options.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Indeed. On the other hand, although I use adblock, if I like a site, I'll disable it (ctrl-shift-B) reload, and click on some of the ads. Websites need to generate income somehow, in order to cover hosting costs at the minimum.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
I've seen a number of people get better from depression just by meeting people with similar conditions online.
:-)
The web does't bring us apart, it brings us together
Adolfo
PS. My last dates have been met online. It allows me to meet women with similar interests instead of just going to a bar and scanning whats available.
I'm chronically III II.
News for merdes. Shit that matters.
Ask me about my sig.
Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
...but shoudln't something be done about the fonts? I read the title as "..,chronically 3". I reread it three times before I got it, I=l and they look totally identical. People in computer security business should treat this seriously, there are already viruses using names like RundII.exe
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
It actually helped me. I seemed to talk less before I was on the web conversing with others, though I don't know if /. users are robots who can pass the Turing test. Since I am more introverted it actually help me become less.
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
Funny how with OSS it's OK to charge for free things so a good thing will continue. But it's not OK to either charge, or ask for a reciprocal agreement in order to continue a good thing in reference to the Web.
... Chronically I & II :P
Is it really a good idea to hook sick people up with sick people? I can imagine how it might go:
...
*[sick_person] enters the chatroom.*
*[chatter] enters the chatroom.*
sick person: Hi, I have three months to live.
chatter: What are you wearing?
sick_person: I'm wearing a hospital gown.
chatter: Is it open at the front or the back?
sick_person: Huh? The back.
And it's all downhill from there.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
I don't understand your point. No one has ever charged me for F(O)SS, I've donated, as I've donated to websites, weather by clicking ads, or cash. However I've never used a pay-for web service (unless you count selling on Ebay) as nearly all these are duplicated on public domain or free websites. If I like the product or service enough(and happen to be in a generious mood) I'll pay somthing, otherwise not.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
Considering how many get chronically ill in the first place
Pfew I am so happy i am not chronically 3, got to be 4, 5 and all the way up to 21. Pretty sure I wont get stuck somewhere in the future too. (but i dont see how chatting will help 3 jearolds can even read/write!)
The timing of this article is interesting in that I was doing a google search on my disease to catch up on the latest news and went to slashdot to give myself a break. In the treatment of a medical problem most of a Doctor's focus is on the immediate present symptoms. That's the way they were trained, that's the nature of a triage based health model. The problem is that if the medical problem isn't short term in nature much of the treatment is enough to get the patient out the door, but leaves that person ill-equipped to face the future of their disease/injury/etc. Sometimes there are support groups, but monthly meetings and sometimes just the lack of local membership usually make them of limited use. The online forums and websites dedicated to various chronic conditions are now starting to fill that need for Patients. Some of them are sponsored or run by Medical Professionals, however it's the Patients who actually make the site a success. People coming together to share information about their problems and support others in their time of need. I have only physically met 4 people with my disease in 15 years, online I have tapped into a community of 1000's, 10's of 1000's.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
So, web-chatting is a cure. And all this time I thought it was a symptom...
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
I've got secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Can't take beta seron, can't find a doctor for novantrone, the only other drug for SPMS. I found out about a different drug therapy, antibiotics and statins, that I can get, and is helping me, from a BBS linked to multiplesclerosissucks.com. It's been a life- and sanity-saver for me.
Lemon curry?
Can anyone recommend a good chat-room for sufferers of Paranoid Schizophrenia?
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
I've been working on a project to secure this communications in a health care environment - this way, veterans at home with disabilities can still communicate with their fellow veterans/health care physicians, but in a secure environment so HIPAA guidelines are met. I'll have to show this to my boss, but this is encouraging.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Havingsuffered chronic fatigue syndrome for 2 yrs, and been confined to a house for a yr due to it, i can assure you that being able to talk to ppl, even not specifically relalting to your illness is invaluable. A big part of chronic illness is the fact you suddenly become disengaged from society. Friends, family slowy start to stay away as your not the person you once were. The web based chat takes away the necessity of being physically capable of actually going somewhere to talk. It kept me sane through the long hours of many days and nights confined in a chair, and i even managed to be useful by volunteering as tech support for gamespy arcade, thus lifting my self worth and self esteem when it was rock bottom, so to all doubters, wait till its your turn, you will count it as a blessing.
Heck, I haven't seen I or II, so Chronically III is a real surprise. Must be pretty good to justify two sequels.
Yuk, yuk
I have been part of a large group for teens with such problems as self-injury, depression, eating disorders etc.( recoveryourlife.com )and I have found it to be very helpful since it provides an alternative to the many teens who feel alienated from their parents,therapists and schools. It's well known that if teens are feeling depressed and suicidal etc. they will usually talk to their friends before most of the adults in their lives - if at all. A well run forum can give a kid a place to decompress if not to even find a solution in time.
Teens resistance to speaking with parents, teachers, therapists etc. is often justified. Many kids are abused and neglected at home, and will hesitate to talk with anyone about a problem (indeed many of them assume its their fault and that they deserve their problems as punishment for being "worthless"). When some do find themselves in treatment they become the focus, as if they aksed for the problem and all difficulties stem from them.
A kid can be getting degraded at home, and when they begin to demonstrate problems from the stresses, they get hit with a few labels from the DSM and
then chemically embalmed, while the real culprits are allowed to keep tearing the kid down. For a lot of teens, their obvious problems are the result of the secret sins of others who will never be get focused on.
Seeing a lot of teens in one place over time is very interesting since the a lot of trends become more visible - trends that are often supported by information in the media such as this article about support sites. One fact that becomes clear is that many kids find no relief from "meds" and indeed lament the side effects.
Teens are given medications in a manner similiar to how a mechanic goes about fixing a car when they don't know what the cause is. Kids are given a medication to see if it will work, and then when it doesn't they will be given another medication and so on. Meds "get tossed at the wall to see if anything sticks". Most of the time the meds don't work and indeed very often it makes kids feel worse. The begin to understand they are guinea pigs.
One scenario is that a teacher will notice a kid having problems and refer them to the counselor. The counselor takes a crack at solving any problem and then passed the kid on to a therapist, who will then pass the kid on to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will do a little "chit-chat, soft-shoe therapy" and then try a sequence of meds which usually make the kid feel worse. Then when nothing works the kid is labeled "Borderline" or something, and in any event deemed difficult to treat and sent back to the parents - one of whom is often crazier than the kid ever was.
The mainstream system and approach to helping kids is broken. Not only are the solutions not efective for an original problem, but they often make problems worse with a back-asswards approach that deepens a kids psychotic haze and never addresses any original cause.
As families break down under relentless pressures, propaganda, and excuses the problems kids have continue to escalate. Kids today are growing-up in mean, loveless world, with often only a sham culture and misinformation to fall back on. The real roots of problems are ignored and a kid getting knocked down the stairs once a week is asked to believe they are "probably" depressed because of their "genes" or brain abnormality as scan research "may" suggest - lots of "probablies" and "mays" get definately acted on in modern pasychology.
Any one support site will not necessarily resemble another, and some sites can be debilitating if poorly moderated or conceived. That said, I have found that many kids who feel isolated benefit from finding each other and being able to compare notes and even to socialize (many kids justifiably feel awful at school). Well run Forums on the web can really help kids to talk about what their problems are when they feel like they can't at home or with the therapist who usually wants to attack the symptom.
Sometimes it's nice to be able to say to somebody "man, it took me 1/2 an hour to get the feeling back in my left leg this morning", and people understand exactly what you mean -- You don't have to take 5 minutes to explain why, or worry about people looking at you like you grew an extra arm. The expectation of a common experience releases some of the stress.
There's also an issue in that the doctors don't have the committment to the problem that the patients do. Even a specialist in the field has dozens (if not hundreds) of patients to deal with with a wide mix of illnesses. It's not as worthwhile for them to try every different non-pharmecutical solution out there, and pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to tell you if drinking water a certain way every morning is just as good as spending $45/day on phalanxomil. (and a doctor mentioning something like that could be at risk of a lawsuit -- either from a patient for whom the treatment didn't work, or from a parmaceutical company pissed off about dropping sales of phalanxomil)
And for those psychologists who don't believe that online 'socializing' is even comparable to the live version, a chat line can help you to link up with the 4 fellow sufferers who live withing a 1/2 hour's travel of your home.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
I sit and spend hours administrating a website which (to date) has had 16,000 teenagers register on the forums of (in the past year alone). They do this because they want friends, a support network and a bit of advice. I could have told the BBC that online support websites help people who are depressed or disabled or ill, friendships and talking to others really do help to improve an individual's condition. I've seen teenagers use the site, leave for a little bit and then thank us a couple of months down the line for the support which we gave them. I've seen amazing things happen! Online volunteering is seriously a worthwhile thing to do, amazing things can happen. You don't need to grab a spade to help others, just spare a bit of your time. ;)
stay fluffy.