ArticleDigital health
'I've seen you at your worst, but I still want to be your friend': A qualitative study of peer support exchange from the perspective of participants in online communities centred around self-harming and suicidal behaviour.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Experiences of personal recovery in the context of unmoderated online communities centered around self-harming and suicidal behavior: a secondary qualitative analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Between Lived Experience and Professionalisation: Can Personal Assistance Redefine Peer Support in Mental Health?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Research on online communities centred around self-harming and suicidal behaviour often focuses on harmful effects. The concept of peer support, which may help explain why individuals engage with such forums, remains under-explored. This study aimed to examine how peer support is experienced in these communities. Methods: Thirteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with current and former participants in online communities focused on self-harming and suicidal behaviour (12 women and one non-binary person, mean age 28). A reflective thematic analysis was used to identify patterns in the data. Results: Four main themes emerged: (1) Conclusion: Online communities centred around self-harming and suicidal behaviour provide an alternative to traditional mental health services, often perceived as paternalistic and unsupportive of autonomy. Participants describe online peer support as a way to share emotional burdens and form meaningful relationships. However, the informal nature of support may complicate recovery, especially when individuals become entrenched in the community. These dynamics warrant further research and consideration in mental health practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.