Designing and evaluating the acceptability of Realshare: An online support community for teenagers and young adults with cancer

Marder, Ben; Panteli, Niki; Griffiths, Catrin; Brunton, Deirdre; Williamson, Heidi

Abstract

© 2014 SAGE Publications. A participatory action approach was used to design and evaluate the acceptability of the Realshare online community. Pre and post-intervention focus groups were conducted and participants were asked to test out Realshare during two intervention periods: when a facilitator was present and when one was not. Focus group data and forum messages were thematically analysed. The themes identified related to participants' website design requirements, how they used the community and the evaluation of Realshare after having used it. Amendments were made to Realshare throughout the project. Realshare is available to young oncology patients in the South West of England.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 9, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Health Psychology
• Print ISSN: 1359-1053
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1589-1601
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105313519154
• Keywords: online support, community, teenagers, young adults, cancer, TYAC, visible difference
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/802503
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105313519154
• Additional Information: Corporate Creators : Centre for Appearance Research (CAR), UWE, University of Bath, University Hospitals Bristol
• Contract Date: Feb 9, 2016