Date of Publication

2-24-2022

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Communication Major in Applied Media Studies

Subject Categories

Film and Media Studies

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Communication

Thesis Advisor

Jan Michael Alexandre C. Bernadas

Defense Panel Chair

Jason Vincent A. Cabañes

Defense Panel Member

Miguel Q. Rapatan
Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano

Abstract/Summary

Recent work on health and disease-specific Facebook groups focus on pros and cons, but not often understood is how members develop new knowledge through their interactions. This thesis presents how a private Facebook group for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is used by Filipino patients and family caregivers as a Community of Practice for coping with illness by determining the digital coping activities they learned from and with each other and how these activities are put into practice by combining theoretical insights of the Digital Coping Model and Community of Practice. Drawing on in-depth and semi-structured interviews from participants, this thesis found that delaying medical care exacerbates distresses, group chats’ affordances motivate openness in sharing, praying encourages better management of illness, and “knowing otherwise” sustains the group. Taken together, results provide a nuanced understanding of how a Facebook group can help its members cope with illness by generating new knowledge from members’ collective experience. This thesis shows how sustained value can be built by developing practices from accumulated experiences which in turn establish a common baseline of experiential/lay-knowledge. A health-themed podcast was created to summarize participants’ experiences in coping with illness and ways to improve them.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Physical Description

118 leaves

Keywords

Social media; Communication in medicine; Cardiovascular system—Diseases; Communities of practice; Online chat groups

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Embargo Period

2-23-2022

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