Online behavior of the alzheimer's disease patient caregivers on croatian online discussion forum

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a study which investigated the information needs of caregivers (CGs) of persons with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in Croatia, a country where the health and social care systems for AD patients and their CGs are not fully established nor efficient. The study was conducted with the help of qualitative content analysis on the total population of initial posts (N = 83) on the Croatian Internet Forum (Forum.hr) from May 2005 through January 2019. The analysis revealed that CGs' information needs fall into the following categories: information about the disease, medication/treatment, coping with the disease, physicians, available services, general care for the AD patient, legal and financial issues, and faith. The analysis further revealed that CGs post on this online discussion list not only when they require specific information or advice, but also to describe their situation and experiences and to share practical information that they think will help others, and also to seek emotional support.