The internet is a central part of contemporary life. After e-mail, online discussion forums are one of the most popular ways for people to interact online. Research into people's engagement with online discussion forums is in its infancy, and advancing this research is the focus of the grant. The authors' past research suggests that even when people approach online forums primarily to seek information (eg, advice about illness management), they may become more engaged both with other users, and with the forum's cause/purpose. Simply put, these users come to feel that their lives have been transformed. This transformation can lead to marked changes in how users view themselves (their self-concept). These changes are known to have positive repercussions for individual well-being in offline settings; this research will investigate whether this relationship is equally robust in online environments. It will also investigate whether such changes translate into offline impact (eg, users may show support for the forum's cause via social/political activism). The proposed research is a longitudinal survey of users of four online forums, focusing upon understanding what predicts transformational forum use over time and investigating the implications of transformational forum use for well-being and for offline impact.

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