title: Seeking social support on Facebook for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the types of social support messages exchanged between parents and/or caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) who communicate via Facebook (FB); it studies two autism support groups: Autism Malaysia (AM) and Autism Children Club (ACA).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 3637 messages including both postings (381) and comments (3256) were gathered from August to November 2013. The study employed a deductive content-analysis approach. The qualitative data were analyzed for social support themes adapted from the Social Support Behavior Code (SSBC). Before collecting the data, email was sent to the FB groups' moderators to gain formal consent from the members.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The finding indicated that the highest percentage of messages offered dealt with Informational support (30.7%) followed by Emotional support (27.8%). Network and Esteem support messages were responsible for 20.97% and 20.2%, respectively. Tangible Assistance was the least frequent category (0.4%). A majority of these messages discussed and addressed challenges and difficulties associated with caring and raising ASD children, as well as issues such as children's social lives and self-care routines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understandings of how FB is used to seek social support could impact supporting and maintaining effective communication among parents and/or caregivers of children with ASDs. This information could also improve approaches used by health professionals in developing, improving and evaluating social support systems for parents/caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: hajaroff@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Siti Hajar
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mohd Roffeei
authors.affiliation: Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: noorhidawati@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Noorhidawati
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abdullah
authors.affiliation: Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: razifabasar@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Siti Khairatul Razifah
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Basar
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: ASD; Autism; Facebook; Social support; Support group