My experience of several years with a variety of support groups has been quite different from what was reported in this "mega analysis." Moreover, most of the literature I know (see http://construct.haifa.ac.il/~azy/refsupp.htm) show the opposite. Azy

I wonder if you have taken a look at the new BMJ, which has a theme of cmc in healthcare.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7449/1143

and particularly, the following:

Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups:

systematic

review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions. Gunther Eysenbach, John Powell, Marina Englesakis, Carlos Rizo, and Anita Stern. BMJ 2004 328: 1166-0.

I don't know if any members of this list are working in the area of healthcare-related cmc, particularly peer-to-peer, but I'd certainly be interested in knowing if that's the case. My work to date has been with a large forum (200,000 members) whose intent is smoking cessation. I'd be very interested to see reactions to this article, which is available full-text through the BMJ website.

Carol Perryman