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Project

The use of online personal narratives to improve adolescents' coping with psychological distress.

Adolescence is a life phase characterised by increased stress and negative emotions. Therefore, developing the right skills to cope with this stress is vital for adolescents. This research project seeks to uncover how sharing, reading of and responding to online personal narratives enable adolescents to better cope with stress. We conduct an online survey with adolescent users of online support group fora to investigate how online personal narratives can help adolescents to cope with stress, and to determine which adolescents benefit the most from these online personal narratives. Moreover, we set up three experimental studies to examine how the interface design of an online support group forum can increase the beneficial effects of online personal narratives. This research project provides a theoretical contribution to the field of health communication, by combining insights in the power of narratives and the design of communication technologies. Results from this project also provides youth helpline and mental health organisations with recommendations in order to empower adolescents in coping with stress.
Date:1 Oct 2018 →  30 Sep 2022
Keywords:COPING STRATEGIES, NARRATIVES, HEALTH COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Disciplines:Developmental psychology and ageing, Social psychology, Communication sciences, Journalism and professional writing, Media studies, Other media and communications