Peer to Peer Online Support for Women Living With PCOS
For women living with PCOS, participation within an online support group appears to offer various benefits through interacting with other sufferers. In particular, the opportunity to share and discuss their own experiences may be helpful in terms of learning to manage and cope with their condition. However, the online support group is not without its limitations and there is the risk that some women who engage with the online support group may suffer through reading about other women's distress or indeed feel more isolated.
Overall, the findings of this work suggest that for some women, the online support group is a viable alternative to traditional offline forms of social support and health professionals may wish to discuss with individual patients whether it represents a useful medium through which to connect with other women facing similar challenges. The online support group may represent a relatively inexpensive and convenient form of support that may address an important gap in current support provision for this group of patients. Furthermore, it may also provide a venue through which partners and family members may come together to share their experiences and benefit from support as they too are likely to be impacted upon by this condition.
Conclusions
For women living with PCOS, participation within an online support group appears to offer various benefits through interacting with other sufferers. In particular, the opportunity to share and discuss their own experiences may be helpful in terms of learning to manage and cope with their condition. However, the online support group is not without its limitations and there is the risk that some women who engage with the online support group may suffer through reading about other women's distress or indeed feel more isolated.
Overall, the findings of this work suggest that for some women, the online support group is a viable alternative to traditional offline forms of social support and health professionals may wish to discuss with individual patients whether it represents a useful medium through which to connect with other women facing similar challenges. The online support group may represent a relatively inexpensive and convenient form of support that may address an important gap in current support provision for this group of patients. Furthermore, it may also provide a venue through which partners and family members may come together to share their experiences and benefit from support as they too are likely to be impacted upon by this condition.
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