The role of social support in obesity online health communities: a literature review

Abstract

Social support is closely linked to the treatment of obesity as one of the key points for a successful weight-loss and change of behaviour. Additionally, online health communities have been proved useful in increasing obesity treatment effectiveness as a complementary tool for physicians in the treatment of obesity. This study aims to review the latest literature regarding how social support affects users of an online health community for the treatment of obesity. It identifies the different effects of social support in the users such as promoting behavioural change and increasing self-efficacy. This study also showcases how recent literature has shown that there is both a direct and indirect relationship between social support in online health communities for the treatment of obesity and actual weight-loss