Online social support for cancer caregivers: alignment between requests and offers on CaringBridge

Objectives Exploring CaringBridge, we describe types of social support caregivers requested, types of social support offered, and the alignment between the two. Research approach A retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive approach. Sample Twenty public CaringBridge sites. Methodological approach The Social Support Behavior Code system was adapted and applied to cancer-caregiver journal entries (n = 389) and guestbook posts (n = 2,466) to identify types of support (emotional, esteem, informational, network, tangible, and no support requested/offered). Matches between requests and offers were examined. Findings Cancer caregivers requested different types of support from their guests, most commonly emotional support. However, in most posts, caregivers did not request any support (n = 238, 61.18%). Guests offered all support types, but predominately offered emotional support (n = 2,353, 95%). When support was requested, 66.67% of requests received a matched offer within 24 hours. Interpretation Social media platforms may provide all types of support to caregivers.

Automated summary

By exploring CaringBridge, it was found that cancer caregivers mainly requested emotional support while guests predominantly offered emotional support. There was a high level of alignment between the types of support requested and offered.