Exploring the Role of Online Social Support in Eating Disorder Recovery: A Quantitative Computational Study
(2024) SIMZ51 20241Graduate School
- Abstract
- Eating disorders are highly prevalent and serious mental illnesses, that are embedded in wider social structures of inequalities and oppression. While social isolation is a key triggering and perpetuating factor, social support emerges as a gateway towards recovery. The online sphere holds great potential to connect eating disorder individuals, creating a space for social support towards recovery. The thesis applies quantitative computational analysis on Reddit data to evaluate whether social support experienced in an online pro-recovery community can be linked to eating disorder recovery. The results show a significant relationship between online social support and eating disorder recovery, with the emotional content of the support being... (More)
- Eating disorders are highly prevalent and serious mental illnesses, that are embedded in wider social structures of inequalities and oppression. While social isolation is a key triggering and perpetuating factor, social support emerges as a gateway towards recovery. The online sphere holds great potential to connect eating disorder individuals, creating a space for social support towards recovery. The thesis applies quantitative computational analysis on Reddit data to evaluate whether social support experienced in an online pro-recovery community can be linked to eating disorder recovery. The results show a significant relationship between online social support and eating disorder recovery, with the emotional content of the support being the sole driving factor. The results prompt further research on the causal process between the two phenomena, as well as remind us not to neglect the well-established options in eating disorder treatment. Further methodological and theoretical implications of the main findings pertaining to digital social scientific research are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9152004
- author
- Dömsödi, Lilla Biborka LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMZ51 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- eating disorder recovery, online social support, Reddit, traditional computational analysis, social network analysis, natural language processing, quantitative modeling
- language
- English
- id
- 9152004
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-26 12:30:28
- date last changed
- 2024-06-26 12:30:28
@misc{9152004, abstract = {{Eating disorders are highly prevalent and serious mental illnesses, that are embedded in wider social structures of inequalities and oppression. While social isolation is a key triggering and perpetuating factor, social support emerges as a gateway towards recovery. The online sphere holds great potential to connect eating disorder individuals, creating a space for social support towards recovery. The thesis applies quantitative computational analysis on Reddit data to evaluate whether social support experienced in an online pro-recovery community can be linked to eating disorder recovery. The results show a significant relationship between online social support and eating disorder recovery, with the emotional content of the support being the sole driving factor. The results prompt further research on the causal process between the two phenomena, as well as remind us not to neglect the well-established options in eating disorder treatment. Further methodological and theoretical implications of the main findings pertaining to digital social scientific research are discussed.}}, author = {{Dömsödi, Lilla Biborka}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Exploring the Role of Online Social Support in Eating Disorder Recovery: A Quantitative Computational Study}}, year = {{2024}}, }