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Evaluating the role of social media in providing support for family caregivers of individuals with spinal cord injury

Spinal Cord volume 61, pages 460–465 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

A Correction to this article was published on 02 October 2023

This article has been updated

Abstract

Study design

Quantitative study.

Objectives

The study aimed to explore Family Caregivers of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (FC-SCI) social media use patterns, most frequently used platforms, importance of social media for receiving and providing support, and type of social support (i.e., social companionship, emotional support, informational support) that FC-SCI receive or provide online.

Setting

FC-SCI participants from Canada and USA.

Methods

FC-SCI responded to measures regarding the social media platforms they use to access support, the importance of each platform, and the types of online social support they access through social media.

Results

Sample consisted of 115 FC-SCI. Most caregivers were a partner or spouse of the individual with SCI (n = 110) and female (n = 111). Majority of FC-SCI spent 1–3 h daily on social media (n = 74), and Facebook was used predominantly (n = 108), followed by Instagram (n = 92), and YouTube (n = 66). For receiving or providing support, Facebook was ranked most important (60%), followed by Instagram (26%) and YouTube (17%). The mean differences and standard deviation were found for the types of social support: emotional support (25.93 ± 7.60), social companionship (23.85 ± 7.46), and informational support (27.24 ± 7.50).

Conclusions

Using social media for informational support is desired by FC-SCI as it is easily accessible, and time-efficient. The prevalent use of social media for support by FC-SCI demonstrates that social media is a valued platform for support. The support benefits for the mental and physical health of caregivers should be further evaluated.

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Fig. 1: The importance of social media platforms for receiving and providing support.

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Data availability

Data may be available by contacting the researchers.

Change history

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy students who supported data collection for this study. We would also like to acknowledge the Wives and Girlfriends of SCI founders Brooke Page, Elena Pauly for their input on the survey questions and guidance.

Funding

This research has been funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation PSR Pilot Grant (PSR2-17), Award Number: 865706.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GF Strong Rehabilitation Research Program, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Heather F. Cathcart, Somayyeh Mohammadi & William C. Miller

  2. Department of Psychology, Kingston University, London, UK

    Somayyeh Mohammadi

  3. Grief Friend, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Beth Erlander

  4. Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Julie M. Robillard

  5. BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Julie M. Robillard

  6. Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    William C. Miller

Authors
  1. Heather F. Cathcart
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  2. Somayyeh Mohammadi
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  3. Beth Erlander
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  4. Julie M. Robillard
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  5. William C. Miller
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Contributions

HFC was responsible for writing the manuscript, analyzing data, and creating tables and figures. SM was responsible for designing the study, supervising the project, gathering, and analyzing data and assistance with writing. JR was responsible for overseeing the study and providing feedback on the paper. WCM was responsible for overseeing the study and providing feedback on the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William C. Miller.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Approval for this project was granted by the University of British Columbia Behavioural Research Ethics Board (H20-01461). We certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations concerning the ethical engagements use of human volunteers were followed during this research.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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The original online version of this article was revised: the affiliation of the author Beth Erlander was corrected from “Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada” to “Grief Friend, Boulder, Colorado, USA”.

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Cathcart, H.F., Mohammadi, S., Erlander, B. et al. Evaluating the role of social media in providing support for family caregivers of individuals with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 61, 460–465 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-023-00914-1

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