- Title
- A framework to assess apomediation in social networking sites: a case of individuals with autoimmune disease
- Creator
- Van de Westhuizen, Eldrigde Werner
- Subject
- Social nertworking
- Subject
- Content sharing
- Date Issued
- 2023-04
- Date
- 2023-04
- Type
- Doctolral's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66334
- Identifier
- vital:74634
- Description
- Over the past couple of years there has been a major change in the health-related information available to patients. The modern patient typically researches online before consulting a doctor, leading to more independence for patients regarding their medical care. Doctors continue to play a pivotal role in the medical profession due to their medical education and experience, however, patients are progressively turning to online information to understand their condition. They also check online, following consultation with their doctor, to confirm that the information provided is correct; and frequently ask for advice from people with the same condition. Clearly, patients are changing their normal health seeking behaviour by supplementing what they hear from healthcare professionals through searches for additional sources of information. Unfortunately, online health-related information is not always factual. The misinformation could cause potential problems in the doctor-patient relationship because the doctor has all the information about the patient’s condition, therefore any indication that the patient is trying to undermine the authority of the doctor could be devastating. There is a need for people, or tools, that can support the patient to direct them to high quality information regarding their condition. This concept, known as apomediation, was discussed in detail in this research, as well as the effect on patients. Unfortunately, there is a lack of understanding of the extent to which these tools or people support the apomediation process for patients. This research focused on social networking sites, which is the tool to be used, while the patients were individuals with an autoimmune disease. The purpose of this research is to construct a framework to understand the extent to which social networking sites support apomediation for individuals with autoimmune disease. Research was conducted on existing models and theories that supports apomediation, as well as investigating which social networking sites are available that best support apomediation based on the core features of these sites. The research then focused on the requirements of individuals with autoimmune disease in respect of apomediation. These building blocks led to the construction of a framework artefact 6 that can guide patients on how to determine the extent to which social networking sites support apomediation. An assessment tool was also developed, based on the framework artefact, to evaluate the framework’s effectiveness in executing its designed intention.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Technology, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (261 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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NMU School of Information and Communication Technology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | van der Westhuizen, EW.pdf | 5 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |