CRII: CHS: Investigating Online Peer Support for Health and Wellness

该项目通过解决该领域两个相关的核心公开问题：在线匿名和管理在线社区中的强联系支持，有助于我们理解人与技术之间的关系。隐私、匿名、平等参与、参与和社会支持等问题在许多在线环境中都是令人感兴趣的。这项工作扩展了社会计算和人机交互的理论和实践，通过对在线匿名和在线社区中戒酒和戒酒的同行支持实践进行严格的实证调查。此外，该项目将有助于设计新技术，以促进国民健康和福利--通过利用新技术将吸毒者和酗酒者与治疗和同伴支持联系起来，解决寻求康复的吸毒者和酗酒者的“治疗差距”。这些主题将通过四项具体研究活动进行调查。首先，将对戒毒者和酗酒者在线社区进行参与式观察。其次，将在一年的时间里从这个在线社区下载数据，以发展对这个社区中关系和活动随着时间的演变的量化了解。第三，对这个社区成员的深入访谈将考察领导力在这些在线健康社区中的作用，以及促成强大的在线社会支持的因素。最后，与戒毒者和酗酒者一起参加的参与式设计研讨会将整合、审查和验证这些经验调查的结果，并开发新的生态有效的技术原型，以支持戒除成瘾和酗酒。

This project contributes to our understanding of the relationship between people and technology by addressing two related core open problems in the field: enacting anonymity online and managing strong tie support in online communities. Issues of privacy, anonymity, equality of participation, engagement, and social support are of interest in many online contexts. This work extends the theory and practice of Social Computing and Human-Computer Interaction by contributing a rigorous empirical investigation of online anonymity and peer support practices in online communities for recovery from addiction and alcoholism. Additionally, this project will contribute to the design of new technologies to advance national health and welfare - addressing the "treatment gap" for addicts and alcoholics who seek recovery by leveraging novel technology to connect them with treatment and peer support.These topics will be investigated through four specific research activities. First, participatory observation will be conducted of an online community for recovering addicts and alcoholics. Second, data will be downloaded from this online community over the course of a year to develop a quantitative understanding of the evolution of the relationships and activities in this community over time. Third, in-depth interviews with members of this community will examine the role of leadership in these online health communities and the factors that contribute to strong social support online. Finally, participatory design workshops with recovering addicts and alcoholics will integrate, vet, and validate the findings of these empirical investigations and develop novel ecologically-valid technology prototypes for supporting recovery from addiction and alcoholism.