The influence of online social support on health self‐management among gay men living with HIV in China
Abstract Gay men living with HIV/AIDS (GMLHA) in China face the dual discrimination from stigmatization of HIV/AIDS and the marginalization of sexual orientation. Online social communities have become an increasingly important channel for them to seek and share health information. This study aims to examine the actual impact of online social support exchange on GMLHA's health self‐management in China. In this study, results of a questionnaire survey conducted in China's Weibo community ( N = 303) showed that offering online social support can positively predict both physical and psychological health self‐management. Moreover, receiving online social support in the GMLHA online community can enhance the HIV/AIDS patient's mental health self‐management but does not forecast an improvement in the physical health self‐management level. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement .
Authors
- Yongkang Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8714-9320)
- Hongzhe Xiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0623-0985)
- Yu Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0091-6126)
- Yiwei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-1912)
- Yu Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9169-6105)
Institutions
- Macau University of Science and Technology (MO)
- Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University (CN)
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- University of Macau (MO)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
- Published
- 2024-08-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2870
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.39
Funders
- Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation