title: A reconsideration of the gendered mechanisms of support in online interactions about testicular implants: a discursive approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Researchers have observed gender differences in the frequency of emotion language used in cancer forums, with men more likely to seek medical information and women more likely to seek social and emotional support (Blank, Schmidt, Vangsness, Monteiro, & Santagata, 2010; Seale, Ziebland, & Charteris-Black, 2006). The aim of this article was to investigate Internet support groups to examine the support mechanisms that men employed when deciding whether or not to have a testicular implant.
  
  
  METHODS
  The four longest threads about prostheses were taken from four separate testicular cancer online support forums (totaling a number of 129 posts). A discursive approach (Edwards & Potter, 2001) was employed in order to consider what support mechanisms were employed by men.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings illustrate that men employed a number of discursive strategies in "doing" support, including assessments, attending to issues of accountability, humor, providing alternative information, constructing decisions as personal choices, reconstituting normality, and sanctioning "emotional" talk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The psychological benefits of online homosocial support are discussed, and it is suggested that clinicians recommend Internet support groups to men with testicular cancer in order to start the psychological healing process.
authors: Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England. sarah.seymoursmith@ntu.ac.uk
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Seymour-Smith
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008571:Men; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*