Online Social Support: Analysis of an Online Discussion Forum for Significant Others of Deployed Service Members

Military deployments can place stress on family members that can affect their physiological and psychological health. Although there has been much research on online social support in health-related groups, there is limited research on online social support in a deployment context. The researchers of this study conducted a content analysis of 151 discussion threads related to military deployments in an online forum for the significant others (SOs) of service members to examine the types of social support messages enacted between SOs. These enacted social support messages were further analyzed for each phase of the deployment cycle. Results showed that information and emotional support were the most frequent types of social support enacted by SOs during a deployment cycle. Information support was the most commonly requested type of social support during the pre-deployment and post-deployment phases, while emotional support was requested most often during the deployment phase. In response to the requests for social support, information support was the most commonly provided type of social support during the pre-deployment phase, while emotional support was the most commonly provided type of social support during the deployment and post-deployment phases.