title: From Help-Seekers to Influential Users: A Systematic Review of Participation Styles in Online Health Communities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding how people participate in and contribute to online health communities (OHCs) is useful knowledge in multiple domains. It is helpful for community managers in developing strategies for building community, for organizations in disseminating information about health interventions, and for researchers in understanding the social dynamics of peer support.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to determine if any patterns were apparent in the nature of user participation across online health communities.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current study involved a systematic review of all studies that have investigated the nature of participation in an online health community and have provided a quantifiable method for categorizing a person based on their participation style. A systematic search yielded 20 papers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participatory styles were classified as either multidimensional (based on multiple metrics) or unidimensional (based on one metric). With respect to the multidimensional category, a total of 41 different participation styles were identified ranging from Influential Users who were leaders on the board to Topic-Focused Responders who focused on a specific topic and tended to respond to rather than initiate posts. However, there was little overlap in participation styles identified both across OHCs for different health conditions and within OHCs for specific health conditions. Five of the 41 styles emerged in more than one study (Hubs, Authorities, Facilitators, Prime Givers, and Discussants), but the remainder were reported in only one study. The focus of the unidimensional studies was on level of engagement and particularly on high-engaged users. Eight different metrics were used to evaluate level of engagement with the greatest focus on frequency of posts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the exception of high-engaged users based on high post frequency, the current review found little evidence for consistent participatory styles across different health communities. However, this area of research is in its infancy, with most of the studies included in the review being published in the last 2 years. Nevertheless, the review delivers a nomenclature for OHC participation styles and metrics and discusses important methodological issues that will provide a basis for future comparative research in the area. Further studies are required to systematically investigate a range of participatory styles, to investigate their association with different types of online health communities and to determine the contribution of different participatory styles within and across online health communities.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Mental Health Research, Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia. Bradley.Carron-Arthur@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6853-7902
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carron-Arthur
authors.forename: Kathina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5169-0553
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: John Alastair
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0668-5982
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Kathleen Margaret
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1556-0708
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012108:Research Personnel; D012944:Social Support; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: online health community; participation inequality; participation style; social network; systematic review