Description
Guided by the social support framework, this article identifies types of support sought and received by combat veterans with PTSD in an online forum. We conducted a thematic analysis of 466 posts by 63 military personnel and partners to identify types and frequencies of social support. Findings are partially consistent with previous investigations of support groups. The most common type of support was informational support, followed by network/community support, and idiosyncratic types of support. However, emotional support was not featured as prominently in comparison to support groups reported on in past research. In addition, our analysis identified concern for forum members and conflict/resolution as two new social support sub-categories. Selective coding revealed three broad themes of social support in the PTSD forum: stigma, group identification, and embracing conflict. We discuss implications and directions for future research using the social support framework.
Publication Date
3-1-2017
Keywords
Communication Studies, Faculty Works, Scholarship, Combat Veterans, Masculinity, PTSD, Post Traumatic Distress Disorder, Social Support, Stigma
Department
Communication Studies
Recommended Citation
Stana, Alexandru; Flynn, Mark A.; and Almeida, Eugenie, "Battling the Stigma: Combat Veterans’ Use of Social Support in an Online PTSD Forum" (2017). Communication Studies Faculty Works. 35.
https://openriver.winona.edu/communicationstudiesfacultyworks/35
Unique Identifier
WSUCMSTFACWORKS-2017b-Stana-Battling the Stigma.pdf
