Ulrika Josefsson
This paper identifies and analyses characteristics of Patients’ Online
Communities (POC) in Sweden. Using a qualitative approach it presents a fine-grained
picture of the communities covering both the structural and cultural factors.
Acknowledging the debate about quality of health information online and the
potential risks of e-health the paper argues that a deeper understanding of
the dynamics of POC, which offer unique aides for the coping process of chronically
ill patients, can contribute to the design of the emergent forms of Internet
based healthcare resources.