ABSTRACT
Background: currently with the emergence of the Internet, patients have an opportunity to exchange social support online. However, little attention has been devoted to different dimensions of online social support exchanged in virtual support communities for patients with multiple sclerosis [MS]
Methods: to provide a rich insight, the aim of this qualitative study was to explore and categorize different dimensions of online social support in messages exchanged in a virtual support community for patients with MS. A total of 548 posted messages created during one year period were selected using purposive sampling to consider the maximum variation sampling. Prior-research-driven thematic analysis was then conducted. In this regard, we used the Cutruna and Suhr's coding system. The messages that could not be categorized with the used coding system were thematically analyzed to explore new additional social support themes
Results: the results showed that various forms of social support including informational, emotional, network, esteem and tangible support were exchanged. Moreover, new additional social support themes including sharing personal experiences, sharing coping strategies and spiritual support emerged in this virtual support community
Conclusion: the wide range of online social support exchanged in the virtual support community can be regarded as a supplementary source of social support for patients with MS. Future researches can examine online social support more comprehensively considering additional social support themes emerging in the present study
ABSTRACT
Muslim women tend to postpone their menstrual period using short course oral contraceptives [OC] during Ramadan, Muslims fasting month. Recently, many cases of stroke, particularly cerebral vein thrombosis [CVT], have been reported in Ramadan. This work studies the incidence of CVT and its relation to Ramadan. This is a cohort study conducted from October 2006 to October 2009 and included 4 consecutive Ramadan's. All patients with definite diagnosis of CVT who were referred to the neurology department of Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran in this four-year period were included in the study. During the study period, 70 cases with CVT [11 males and 59 females] were recruited. Twenty five cases were admitted during Ramadan months which was significantly higher than all the other 32 months [p=1.9×10[-7]]. The higher frequency of females [6 times more] among CVT cases probed by investigating possible risk factors and short term OC consumption was revealed as the major risk factor [p=0.00071]. Higher incidence of CVT in females during Ramadan suggests the presence of specific risk factors in this group. Our study revealed that short-term use of OCs may be a major risk factor for CVT