BACKGROUND
Background: Empirical studies have revealed that social support is a crucial determinant that affects OHISI and OHISB in online health communities. However, there is an inconsistency in the relationship between social support and health information sharing.
OBJECTIVE
Objective: The aim of this review is to systematically review the studies for evidence how social support and its five distinct types (information, emotional, network, esteem, and tangible support) affect online health information sharing intention and behaviour.
METHODS
Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis that systematically accumulated current research findings. Studies that analyzed the effect sizes from 35 articles (N=35132) representing 64 empirical sample.
RESULTS
Results: we found that social support is moderately correlated with users' online health information sharing intention (OHISI) and strongly correlated with online health information sharing behaviour (OHISB). Moreover, network support significantly impacts OHISI, while esteem support has the most significant effect on OHISB. Further exploration revealed that the impact of different types of social support on online health information sharing intention and behaviour is moderated by three internal characteristics of the sharer (education level, sharer's identity, and type of information shared) and two external environmental characteristics of the sharer (social culture and platform type).
CONCLUSIONS
Conclusions: This systematic review will provide a rationale for valuable insights for online health communities and platform managers and a more robust theoretical foundation for future research in this field.
CLINICALTRIAL
NO