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AzyBarak,OrnaBoneh,andMichalDolev-Cohen
&Suler,2008).Animportantquestionhastodowithidentifyingthefactors,or
ingredients,thatmakereachingthesegoalspossible.Thefollowingsectionswill
attempttoidentifytwotypesofsuchfactors:(a)thoserelatedtotheempowering
processesthattakeplaceinsupportgroups;(b)thelevelofengagementand
involvementoftheirparticipants.Wearguethatacombinationofthesetypesof
factorscreatethepsychologicaldynamicsthatconsequentlyproducepersonally
desiredintensionsforparticipationinsupportgroups.
ContributingProcessesinOnlineSupportGroups
Theexperiencewithsupportgroupsthathasaccumulated,asalongwith
growingresearch,haveidentifiedseveralspecificfactorscontributingtopartici-
pants’well-beingandpersonalempowerment.Althoughindependentobserva-
tionsfocusedonandexaminedspecificfactors,itseemsthatweareatastage
whereamoregeneral,comprehensiveviewofwhattakesplaceinonlinesupport
groupsispossibleandnecessarytobeabletorecognizeanddefinemultiplecon-
tributingprocesses(Barak,Boniel-Nissim,&Suler,2008;vanUden-Kraan,
Drossaert,Taal,Shaw,Seydel,&vandeLaar,2008b;vanUden-Kraan,Dros-
saert,Taal,Seydel,&vandeLaar,2009).Thisdoesnotnecessarilymeanthateach
ofthesefactorsexists,oroughttoexist,andoperatesineverysupportgroup.
Somegroupsmaybecharacterizedbyspecific,crucialfactors,withotherproc-
essesnotexistingtoanysignificantextent.Inothersupportgroups,stillother
factors,orperhapsallofthecontributingfactors,mayoperateintensively.Inany
event,acomprehensivelistofcontributingprocesses(orfactors)signifiesthe
optimaldynamicsofanonlinesupportgroup.
Table1presentstenprimaryfactorsthathavebeenidentifiedasdynamically
operatingandsignificantlyaffectingpositiveoutcomesinonlinesupportgroups.
Severalofthesefactorshavebeenstudiedquantitativelywhileothershave
beendetectedinqualitativeresearch.Somehavereceivedmuchresearchatten-
tion(e.g.,provisionofinformation)whileothershavebeenthesubjectoflittle
investigation(e.g.,thefunfactor).Itisimportanttonotethatthisdifferential
researchattentiondoesnotreflectinanywayontherelativeimportanceorcon-
tributionofeachprocesstopersonalbenefitsobtainedbyparticipationinagroup;
rather,itmayindicatethelackofavailabilityandattainabilityofdatainempiri-
calstudies,ontheonehand,andresearchers’prioritiesandpreferences,onthe
other.Similarly,itisimportanttonotethattheorderoftheprocessespresentedin
Table1isbasicallyrandom,anddoesnotsignifytheirrelativeimportanceorvalue
forparticipants.Ascanbeseen,eachoftheprocessesidentifiedisaccompanied
