Medblog

13 comments

Effect of Blogging on Well-Being: Increased Social Support and Satisfaction

blogging

In comparison to non bloggers the bloggers’ levels of social integration and the tendency to count on others for assistance (reliable alliance) increased over time in as short as a period of two months. Compared to non bloggers, bloggers were more satisfied with number of face-to-face and online friends and with closeness of face-to-face friendships. These changes were not present for non bloggers. Both groups were less psychologically distressed after using MySpace for 2 months than when they first joined, but not significantly so.

Higher levels of social integration suggest that bloggers feel greater belonging to a group of likeminded people with interests and ways of thinking similar to their own.

You can express your stress factors and emotions on blogs, get it of your chest. Blogging can provide you with social support, friendship and positive interactions. Blogs can bring together likeminded and supportive communities and thus provide opportunities to relieve feelings of isolation. Blogs may allow authors to communicate subject matter difficult to express in regular social interaction by reducing social constraints that hinder discussion of distressing events in offline life.

Does Dr Shock have social support, friendship and positive interactions with his blog? He certainly does. Aqua and Herb were the first to express positive critique giving him the change to improve his writing. Jan at Medblog.nl and Laika were an example to him and of great help. To name only a few.

The conclusions of this research as written at the first lines of this post were recently published. It has some limitations that can be derived from the design.

New MySpace users (N=58) were surveyed on joining the site and again in 2 months to examine psychosocial differences between bloggers and nonbloggers over time.

The question remains if these results can be extrapolated to other blog platforms, follow-up was short. If the follow up increases advantages of blogging may become more prominent. A strong point for this research is the use of a control group (non bloggers on MySpace).

ResearchBlogging.org
James R. Baker, Susan M. Moore (2008). Blogging as a Social Tool: A Psychosocial Examination of the Effects of Blogging CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2147483647-3 DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2008.0053

 

2 comments ,

Dutch Grand Round: Grote Visite

istock_000004120074xsmall

First the admissions to this grand round followed by an at random selection of interesting posts from the dutch medical blogopshere. It is amazing how many Dutch Medblog Posts are in English.

The first is about Lean Thinking in Healthcare by Marjolein Fermie on C3 weblog. Lean is basically about getting the right things to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, while minimising waste and being flexible and open to change.

Laika’s MedLibLog has two important posts about Addison’s Disease. The first is about the trouble diagnosing Addison’s disease, the second post is about the importance of early intervention in Addisonian Crisis. Her own experience with the disease is an extra dimension in these posts.

My own pick from Dutch Medblogs (in English)

On Digicm a post about an AIDS grant for Second Life Project Karuna. The project includes the creation of a new island in Second Life with a community AIDS/HIV library/resource center. The resource center will provide information support and outreach to the Second Life community and beyond about AIDS/HIV and its prevention.

Dokter Luster has a post about the financial cost of the Iraq war with the total cost to the U.S. economy estimated at $3 trillion. He explains how much 3 trillion really is. Oh and muhaha is Dutch for LOL.

Psychophysiology, the new kid on the blog has a link to a Nature publication on the neurobiology of depression.

Cryptocheilus has a stingy post with the US election in pictures, can you guess his preference?

My own pick from Dutch Medblogs (in Dutch):

Dr Confabula also loves dark chocolate. She writes about chocolate addiction.

Both 100% Mike and ECG Greetje write about the ideal song during resuscitation. “Staying alive” from the Bee Gees has the optimal beats per minute (100). I had a look in my iTunes library and found a more contemporary alternative:

Cees Sterk has a review on a new book: Ziekenhuizen veranderen by Leon Lodewick. Leon Lodewick is a hospital crisis manager with a large track record for managing hospitals in trouble. This post by Cees Sterk focuses on the role of medical specialists in hospitals.

The Dutch government is making legislation for a national electronic public health record. Martijn Hulst discusses the comparison with Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault.

On Huntington daily a post about a new unit were 16 patients with Huntington’s disease can live. With video of the unit.

On A Day in the Life of a Shrink his impression of the terracota army of the Chinese Emperor Xi’an.

Well that wraps it up for this week. Post your entries for the next Grote Visite here

 

0 comments

Emergiblog: Start your Grand Rounds

Formule 1 racing

Welcome to the Emergiblog Speedway, where the Grand Rounds 500 is about to get underway! No chance of a rain delay – our bloggers are ready to roll!

Thirty-nine bloggers have shown up for the event. All entries have qualified; no posts were sent back to the garage.

And ladies, don’t worry, you’re welcome on the track, I just wanted to use the classic starting phrase!

The new grand round is up at Emergiblog. Nice theme, you’ll never guess it so have a look and read the best outline of the posts in the medical blogosphere.

 

2 comments

Grand Round at Pallimed: A Hospice & Palliative Medicine Blog

hotel-dieu-hospice-beaune-france

When I read Hospice it always reminds me of the Hospice Hotel-Dieu in Beaune, France. You certainly have to visit it when in the neighborhood. But what you should visit right now is the new grand round over at Pallimed.


Below I have taken the liberty to edit down to what I considered the most provocative, most interesting, or most literary posts published in the last week. I have included all submissions in the first comment of this post so that everyone can see all the posts submitted.

 

0 comments , ,

Dutch Grand Round 1.5, Grote Visite

istock_000004120074xsmall

At Laika’s MedLibLog a description of the submissions to the Dutch Grand Round and here own choice from blogs form the Dutch medical blogosphere. By the way most Dutch bloggers in the medical blogosphere blog in English, Laika certainly does.

Laika is also present at Pallimed hosting this week Grand Round with a great view of Addison’s disease

But those issues can be better addressed by persons in the field. I just simply want to restrict to “changing care in a very specific area, adrenal diseases, simply because I’m a hands-on expert, having secondary Addison’s Disease (Sheehan’s syndrome)”.

 

0 comments , ,

Encephalon celebrates Emerald Anniversary

neuroscience

The new grand round from Encephalon: On August 26th, 2006, the blogger behind Neurophilosophy, launched the Encephalon blog carnival to present, every other week, a selection of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts.

Welcome to a landmark edition of Encephalon, the cream of the crop of brain science blog carnivals. This is the 55th edition of Encephalon, an anniversary achieved by less than 5% of married couples. Thus, this edition is a testament to the dedication of neuroscience bloggers: they don’t even take vows, yet they still stay committed to providing their readers with scintillating perspectives on developments in brain science.

Just some examples of these interesting posts with topics close to the heart of Dr Shock:

Playing the blame game: Video games stand accused of causing obesity, violence, and lousy grades. But new research paints a surprisingly complicated and positive picture on SharpBrains.

On Cognitive Daily: a look at a study of teenagers’ sexual behavior.

Go read the rest on Neuroscientifically Challenged

 
«‹ 7 8 9 10›»