"Internet hugs": The use of Reddit as a valuable form of social support during medical transitioning.
Background: Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals experience significant health disparities, and are medically disadvantaged, experiencing various barriers to accessing and receiving healthcare. Given persistent anti-transgender stigma and discrimination, TGD individuals may use online re...
| Publicado en: | International Journal of Transgender Health Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 1451 - 1466 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
May/Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=193835497&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 193835497 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 26895269 MBE5 jtl: International Journal of Transgender Health issn: 26895269 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May/Jun2026 vid: 27 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 193835497 186278237 193835497 193835497 10.1080/26895269.2025.2520956 193835497 ppf: 1451 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: "Internet hugs": The use of Reddit as a valuable form of social support during medical transitioning. aug: au: Scott, Sarah C. Davis, Brent D. Abramovich, Alex affil: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada sug: subj: Transgender Persons Psychosocial Factors Social Media Utilization Support, Psychosocial Evaluation Transitional Care Access to Information Health Information Health Services Accessibility Human Ontario Male Female Qualitative Studies Thematic Analysis Social Media Content Analysis Communication Peer Group Support Groups Interpersonal Relations Mental Health Healthcare Disparities Patient Satisfaction Information Seeking Behavior Privacy and Confidentiality Data Mining Research Ethics Health Policy Male Female ab: Background: Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals experience significant health disparities, and are medically disadvantaged, experiencing various barriers to accessing and receiving healthcare. Given persistent anti-transgender stigma and discrimination, TGD individuals may use online resources and social media (e.g. Reddit), for social support, including to access information about medical transitioning. However, TGD individuals' use of Reddit for social support has not yet been explored, especially within the context of Ontario, Canada's largest province. Methods: To explore various forms of social support that TGD individuals access through social media, we webscraped and performed thematic analysis on two subreddits specific to TGD individuals residing in Ontario. Results: Our dataset included 3912 posts and 23162 comments. Users engaged in four types of social support. Appraisal support was reflected in the theme of mutual understanding through shared identity and challenges. Emotional support was exhibited through the theme of creating compassionate connections despite anonymity. Instrumental support was characterized by the theme of tangible help to alleviate stress. Informational support was the most commonly observed and included three distinct themes: seeking medical information and advice, providing support through personal experience, and sharing legislative or medical information. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that Reddit appears to be a helpful resource for navigating medical transitioning and accessing support and information that is beneficial for accessing and receiving healthcare among TGD individuals in Ontario. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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