Examining Social Support Conversations on Reddit During COVID-19 Using Computational Methods

Public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have posed unprecedented challenges to both physical and mental health. To better understand related social support conversations on online support groups, and how the topics of these conversations are associated with producing conversation and with authors' mental health status, we analyzed 65,004 posts and comments on the subreddit r/COVID19_support using structural topic modeling. Among the 22 valid topics identified, those that attracted more user engagement addressed uncertainty about prospective situations, national and international news, sending condolences regarding loss, and the dangerous impact of the pandemic. More importantly, topics related to giving esteem (e.g. sending encouragement to boost others' self-efficacy, expressing appreciation) and emotional support (e.g. sending regards and condolences) were consistently and negatively associated with authors' anxiety and mental illness during the pandemic. In the same vein, providing informational support by updating situations related to the health impact and political, media, and working environment during the pandemic were also associated with reduced anxiety and mental illness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.