The Past, the Present, and the Future: Examining the Role of the “Social” in Transforming Personal Healthcare Management of Chronic Disease

This chapter examines how the rapid diffusion of social media and Mobile Web is impacting personal healthcare management amongst those living with chronic disease. Despite a recent increase in research in this area (Moorhead, et al., 2013), evaluating the “social” still poses challenges to conventional notions of the “Internet empowered” patient and the best ways to support the management of chronic disease (Østbye, et al., 2005). The chapter argues that there is a need for advancing conceptual thinking on how health and IT are now interacting at the level of individual patients/citizens and how this is continuing to transform health professional-patient interactions (Glasgow, et al., 2008). By drawing on examples of e-health research, the chapter illustrates how notions of the “social” and “technology” have evolved over time from medically centred e-health through to patient-centred e-health. The chapter considers how this evolution may lead to a future focus on community-centred personal healthcare of chronic disease supported by “social” e-health tools, applications, and services that continue to blur the more conventional boundaries between health professionals, patients, and their social networks.