User Dynamics in Mental Health Forums – A Sentiment Analysis Perspective

Individuals around the world in need of mental healthcare do not find adequate treatment because of lacking resources. Since the necessary support can often not be provided directly, many turn to the Internet for assistance, whereby mental health forums have evolved into an important medium for millions of users to share experiences. Information Systems research lacks empirical evidence to analyze how health forums influence users’ moods. This paper addresses the research gap by conducting sentiment analysis on a large dataset of user posts from three leading English-language forums. The goal of this study is to shed light on the mood effects of mental health forum participation, as well as to better understand user roles. The results of our exploratory study show that sentiment scores develop either positively or negatively depending on the condition. We additionally investigate and report on user forum roles