Self-help Platforms for Users with Chronic Tinnitus

Around 9.8% of adults experience chronic tinnitus but nevertheless, there is currently no treatment that works which leaves people with tinnitus needing to self-manage their illness. For this, online self-help platforms provide support and can empower users to self-manage their illness. Due to the huge role of self-help platforms, further research into the empowering effects on users with tinnitus is necessary. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the empowering effects of the self-help platform Tinnitus Talk on users. Further, the activity level on the platform will be analysed to investigate the effect of activity on empowerment. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted. The questionnaires investigated the demographics, platform activity, illness perception, self-management abilities and empowering processes and outcomes. The sample consisted of 85 participants (76.5% male, 20% female, 3.5% non-binary) of which most of them were frequently active (30.6% more than once a day, 26% more than once a week). All data were analysed by means of regression analyses, Wilcoxon rank-sum comparisons, and correlation analyses. The different analyses were done to test the relationships between all variables and the different influences empowerment has on illness perception and self-management. The results found the empowering processes and outcomes to be present in varying degrees. It can be said that users of the platform Tinnitus Talk experience the feeling of empowerment through interaction with other users (Around 9.8% of adults experience chronic tinnitus but nevertheless, there is currently no treatment that works which leaves people with tinnitus needing to self-manage their illness. For this, online self-help platforms provide support and can empower users to self-manage their illness. Due to the huge role of self-help platforms, further research into the empowering effects on users with tinnitus is necessary. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the empowering effects of the self-help platform Tinnitus Talk on users. Further, the activity level on the platform will be analysed to investigate the effect of activity on empowerment. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted. The questionnaires investigated the demographics, platform activity, illness perception, self-management abilities and empowering processes and outcomes. The sample consisted of 85 participants (76.5% male, 20% female, 3.5% non-binary) of which most of them were frequently active (30.6% more than once a day, 26% more than once a week). All data were analysed by means of regression analyses, Wilcoxon rank-sum comparisons, and correlation analyses. The different analyses were done to test the relationships between all variables and the different influences empowerment has on illness perception and self-management. The results found the empowering processes and outcomes to be present in varying degrees. It can be said that users of the platform Tinnitus Talk experience the feeling of empowerment through interaction with other users (β between 0.04 and 0.13). This happens independently of the frequency with which the users participate on the platform and independently from the timespan of participation. Furthermore, different empowerment outcomes seem to have an influence on the illness perception (r between -.22 and -.29) and self-management abilities of the users (r = .29). Thus, all results suggest the existence of patient empowerment through Tinnitus Talk.