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

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.