| Learning Objective #1: Describe an innovative approach to offering a support group service over the Internet | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Discuss the experiences of patients and their caregivers in participating in an Internet-based support group service |
Support groups have been used by individuals with chronic illness to cope with emotional stress. The in-person, moderated group meeting remains the “gold standard” but can be medically and/or logistically challenging for participants to attend. Addressing confidentiality concerns, a prototype of a web-based method for remote participants to attend in-person support group meetings has been developed. Using available personal computing technology, authorized remote participants gain a real-time, audiovisual connection to the group meeting, and on-site participants can receive and discuss comments from remote participants submitted to, the group moderator.
Purpose: A pilot study was conducted using an ICD support group for evaluation. The group met monthly and had 5-10 participants in attendance. Remote participants were solicited via email and Internet bulletin boards used by ICD patients for peer support. The sample included (n=29) ICD recipients and (n=13) caregivers who attended in-person sessions. There were 4-8 remote participants signed on for each session. Data were collected for eight months.
Methods: A 5-item Likert style questionnaire was developed to measure group satisfaction with this innovative interaction. Subjects were asked to place a mark on the scale that best represented their satisfaction with the session. The response codes were from 1=very negative to 5=very positive.
Results: The responses were analyzed from both ICD recipients and caregivers attending the in-person group collectively (n=42). The experience of participating in a webcasted support group was found to be highly favorable as evidenced by the median satisfaction scores of >4.5.