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Collaborative Friendship Networks in Online Healthcare Communities: An Exponential Random Graph Model Analysis

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Smart Health (ICSH 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8549))

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Abstract

Health 2.0 provides patients an unprecedented way to connect with each other online. However, less attention has been paid to how patient collaborative friendships form in online healthcare communities. This study examines the relationship between collaborative friendship formation and patients’ characteristics. Results from Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) analysis indicate that gender homophily doesn’t appear in CFNs, while health homophily such as treatments homophily and health-status homophily increases the likelihood of collaborative friendship formation. This study provides insights for improving website design to help foster close relationship among patients and deepen levels of engagement.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Xiaolong Song & Xianbin Yan

  2. Department of Management Information Systems, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

    Shan Jiang & Hsinchun Chen

Authors
  1. Xiaolong Song
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  2. Shan Jiang
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  3. Xianbin Yan
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  4. Hsinchun Chen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China

    Xiaolong Zheng

  2. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA and Chinese Academy of Sciences,, Beijing, China

    Daniel Zeng

  3. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA and Tsinghua University, Beijing,, China

    Hsinchun Chen

  4. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Yong Zhang  & Chunxiao Xing  & 

  5. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Daniel B. Neill

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Song, X., Jiang, S., Yan, X., Chen, H. (2014). Collaborative Friendship Networks in Online Healthcare Communities: An Exponential Random Graph Model Analysis. In: Zheng, X., Zeng, D., Chen, H., Zhang, Y., Xing, C., Neill, D.B. (eds) Smart Health. ICSH 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8549. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08416-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08416-9_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08415-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08416-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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