This weeks task is to find three online communities that relate to a topic of interest from our fieldwork experience. My fieldwork experience was with clients that have arthritis. In this post i am going to focus on communities that may help clients that have arthritis in their hands. When looking at communities i have tried to find some that clients can post to and ask questions relating to occupations that are effected by their arthritis.
Arthritis Foundation
This website has everything anyone would need once they find out they have arthritis. There is new about research and anything outstanding to do with arthritis, forums and discussions you can join and just general information about any type of arthritis.
I think that once you look through all the pages of this site (and there are heaps) that it will talk about occupational justice, disruption, transition and deprivation.
Take a look.
http://www.arthritis.org/
On this page there is a section called community. You can join for free and share information and ideas, help others and make friends who are going through the same ordeal.
This community page is very interactive and you can set up your own blog, upload a photo and tell your story.
http://community.arthritis.org/app/render/go.aspx?xsl=tp_community.xslt
This site would have to be the best one i found. Once you look into it a bit further you would be able to join groups that suit you and help you get what you need.
Grown ups
The first online community i have found is called 'Grown Ups'.
Have a look.
http://www.grownups.co.nz/
This is a New Zealand site that connects people from all over the country. people can post to the forums or become a member and chat to others.
This site is made for adults over the age of 50 and talks about a wide range of medical conditions. The intended purpose of the site is to connect and inform the population about any medical conditions or problems they may be experiencing. The site is very interactive and provides articles and discussion forums for the public to read. People can contribute after they have joined the site by posting to the forums and discussions and talking to other people that may be in the same boat. People contribute with their own experiences and advice for others.
The information shared on this site is helpful to those in the population that suffer from arthritis as it talks about how you can help prevent symptoms and how to help with the pain and lack of movement. There are a couple of discussions talking about occupations such as knitting and how these occupations have been effected by having arthritis in the hands. People have posted about tricks they have come across when doing these activities that help to aid them and make occupations a bit easier.
this site looks at occupational disruption and deprivation. many people talk about a time in their lives when they couldn't do certain occupations and others talk of occupations they cannot do at all due to arthritis in hands.
Playing guitar and arthritis
So this website i have found is slightly different. When looking at occupations that people do some people enjoy to play musical instruments and this is a big part of their well-being.
This website looks at a number of things all around a certain type of guitar. there is news articles and disscussions but the one discussion i found interesting was called 'Older players & sore arthritic hands'.
Have a look.
http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/164337-older-players-sore-arthritic-hands.html
This online community is much like the one above where as it is people posting about issues they are having and remidies they have for arthritis in hands. This page is slightly different however as it is centered around guitar playing and is for all ages not just over 50. People can contribute with whatever they feel may help others or just their own experiences. Just like the above site this one also talks about occupational deprivation and disruption.
There may be a few ethical issues that arise from communities such as these. Things like lack of identity and accountability. Would you really know who anybody was or if they were safe to talk to in a community like this. And who is overall responsible for what content is put in the discussion forums. is it all shown or is there some kind of filter?
Some of the benefits of online communities such as these is that it brings people together who may not be able to under certain circumstances join a group in their town. It allows people to contact others who may have similar problems and help them seek answers. For some people making friends and knowing they are not alone is a large part of online communities. Another benefit may be that people make friends with other in other parts of the country and could go visit these people.
Some of the limitations of online communities is that people may not be getting to spend any time with other people as they are online. They lack the face to face contact that is important in socializing and can occur in traditional geographical communities.
K x
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