Muirhead, Laura J. (2023) “What would you like to see happen @Cardex?” Safety and Support in Online Mental Health Forums. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Online mental health forums provide support at a scale that formal health systems cannot. Previous research has found that professionally moderated forums were safe spaces for
people to talk about their suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STB). How moderators and members work together to respond to a person’s troubles and their risk of self-harm in online
interactions remains unclear. A single data thread of interaction over 5 months, with 17 moderator posts and 97 member posts was selected for the current study. Data analysis focused on the first 24 hours of interactions in the single thread, to examine how moderators and members respond to an online forum user who is in a suicidal crisis. It was found that forum members and professional moderators pursue different projects on the forums. When a user-in-crisis posts on the forums, moderators work to develop and launch a safety request, to move the individual towards safety, which members also support. Members collaborate to
build and monitor the user-in-crisis’ receptivity for receiving offers of support. Findings were supported by the Integrated Motivational Volitional Model of Suicide, as members worked to reduce the user’s movement from suicide ideation to intent, and moderators worked to manage the user’s imminent risk of acting on suicide. Moderators and members use several strategies to support a user-in-crisis and guide them to a state of safety. Benefits of speaking
with individuals that have lived experience, appear to balance risks of going online for support with STBs. The next study should continue to examine the single thread, beyond the first 24 hours to solidify the current findings and move forwards in suicide research focused on lived experience.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Steven Christensen |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 22 May 2025 03:31 |
| Last Modified: | 22 May 2025 03:31 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | suicide research, online mental health forums, members and moderators, conversation analysis |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52601 |
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