Understanding Remote Mental Health Supporters' Help-Seeking in Online Communities
Tuan-He Lee, Gilly Leshed
TL;DR
This paper examines how remote mental health caregivers seek help and receive support in online communities, using a qualitative analysis of 522 Reddit threads (with 3,355 comments) drawn from caregiver-focused subreddits. It employs a human-LLM hybrid workflow to develop a codebook that captures four posting purposes (guidance, emotional expression, validation, coping), five response categories (emotional support, informational strategies, personal experience, boundaries, remote-context acknowledgment), and three remote-specific themes (remote monitoring, care coordination, boundary management). The findings reveal that remote posts are longer and receive fewer comments than non-remote posts, and that distance-specific needs are often under-addressed in responses, highlighting gaps in online caregiver ecosystems. The authors discuss design and policy implications to improve sensing, crisis coordination, and representation for remote caregivers, emphasizing the value of curated resources, shared situational awareness, and explicit recognition of distance in online support spaces.
Abstract
Providing mental health support for loved ones across a geographic distance creates unique challenges for the remote caregivers, who sometimes turn to online communities for peer support. We qualitatively analyzed 522 Reddit threads to understand what drives remote caregivers' online help-seeking behaviors and the responses they receive from the community. Their purposes of posting included requesting guidance, expressing emotions, and seeking validation. Community responses included providing emotional support, suggesting informational strategies, and sharing personal experiences. While certain themes in posts (emotional toll, monitoring symptoms, and prioritizing caregiver well-being) are shared across remote and non-remote contexts, remote caregivers' posts surfaced nuanced experiences. For example, they often rely on digital cues, such as voice, to interpret care receivers' well-being while struggling with digital silence during crises. We discuss the need for supporting communication and information sharing between remote caregivers and receivers, care coordination for crisis management, and design recommendations for caregiver communities.