An Internet discussion board for parents of mentally ill young children

Abstract

Purpose: This paper reports parents' use of electronic bulletin board for social support during a pilot study of an Internet intervention.

Methods: Parents participated for a mean of 13.83 weeks. The convenience sample consisted of six parents. Data were from site access information and parents' postings.

Findings: Excluding one mother who checked frequently for messages, mothers have an average of 5.2 postings. Excluding this one mother, the postings/ accesses ratio was greater than 60%. Parents made postings in four categories of "child's illness" having 37 comments and 36 comments for "group maintenance".

Conclusions: While the study findings cannot be generalized, these results suggest that parents will use electronic discussion boards.