Posted by LlurpsieBlossom on December 2, 2006, at 14:46:39
In reply to Re: more research here » Jost, posted by Declan on December 2, 2006, at 14:02:30
A few ideas:
Pick a sample of Babblers who post regularly for 12 weeks, and fill out the babble-o-meter regularly
Track these babbler's progress over time.
Here's a hypothesis: Babblers who "improve" on their CES-D are satisfied with their anti-depressant medication, or at least are not changing medication during a period of improvement.
Are babblers with more symptoms (on one of the babble-o-meter measures) more likely to give or elicit support?
Take babblers with an increase in symptoms or impairment over a period of time (15 weeks?) (according to babble-o-meter measures). Are these babblers more likely to give vs. elicit support? Are these babblers more likely to be posting about changes in Medication, changes in psychotherapy, major life stressors? Are these babblers more likely to engage in "risky" babble activity, such as posting on the Politics, Faith, or Admin boards? Are these babblers more or less loquatious?
I can see a number of interesting studies coming out of this. I think it's important to examine how the standarized measures of mental health relate to posting behavior, and self-reported accounts of current treatment.
For instance, I believe that I elicit more support when I'm very anxious and very depressed than when I'm anti-anxious and anti-depressed. I believe that I *give* more support when I am on a trajectory of "improvement".
Just for fun, I'd also like to see whether there's a relation between "risky" posting behavior (defined above) and the number of asterisks a poster has accumulated :)
Average post-length per board in characters,
Average number of distinct posters per week on various boards
Average thread-length per boardAre certain boards associated with having lots of symptoms/poorer functioning (according to babble-o-meter measures)? Are certain boards associated with higher functioning/fewer symptoms?
This could be a dissertation. I already have one, however. Too many variables as it is.
Change over time and quantitative measures-- I think that looking at the relation answers important issues for psychiatrists and laypersons alike.
Keep in mind that this is not a randomly assigned experiment. We will never know for sure whether posting a lot (for example) *causes* improved mental health. We will only know that they are related.
-ll
poster:LlurpsieBlossom
thread:709392
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20061202/msgs/709716.html