Социална подкрепа в интернет форума „Родители на деца с увреждания и хронични заболявания“
Social support in the internet forum „Parents of children with disabilities and chronic diseases“

Summary/Abstract: This paper is devoted to the study of the place of the internet forum „Parents of children with disabilities and chronic diseases,“ part of the site www.bg-mamma.com for social support, given to families of children with disabilities. The aim of the research is to reveal if in Internet people are able to trust strangers (people involved in the same problem) and to receive social support and assistance. The difficulties and obstacles which families of children with disabilities meet every day (physical – fatigue because of daily care for children with special needs, mental – stress (often depression) because of a constant struggle for survival, emotional – vulnerability and sensation to the pain and suffering of the most cherished them – children; material – often a lack of resources for caring and treating special needs children (family members who have their own needs), etc.) are a prerequisite for isolation and alienation, lack of contact with people from both local area and families with similar problems. We believe that support groups of families with special needs are an important factor in the deal, so we aimed to answer the questions: is there and how much is support in the Internet forum as well as how www.bg-mamma.com may act like social workers, psychologists, doctors and other professionals who can support parents of children with disabilities. For the purpose of investigation we carried out a research on the web with parents of children with disabilities and chronic diseases, who are participants in the sub-forum „Parents of children with disabilities and chronic diseases,“ in the site bg~mamma.com using the form of an electronic survey. The aim of the interviews was to investigate the intensity of forum‘s use, the support received by parents, the seriousness of the problems exposed, and the commitment of parents who use the forum.

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