More effective improvement: social support congruence for emotion conditions in online depression and anxiety groups

Purpose Online mental health communities (OMHCs) are important platforms for seeking help and providing social support, which can promote more positive emotional experiences for users. However, current research primarily focuses on how to access social support from OMHCs and validate its benefits, while neglecting to explain the underlying mechanisms of how social support facilitates emotional well-being. Therefore, from a person-centered perspective and based on congruity theory, we investigate the effects of social support congruence on depression-anxiety emotion changes, as well as the moderating roles of user involvement level and support source. Design/methodology/approach This study collects 12,832 chat transcripts from the online depression and anxiety group (ODAG) within an OMHC, segmenting them into 5,013 conversation rounds for quantitative analysis. Findings We find that both moderate levels of thematic and emotional congruence are associated with favorable emotion change. However, a high degree of focus on the same topic may hinder this positive emotional shift. Increasing involvement, in turn, can mitigate this negative effect and amplify the benefits of positive emotion difference. Originality/value Our study enriches theoretical research on health management, contributes to social support literature and provides practical insights for individuals, administrators and practitioners in health management.