Title: Virtual communities and social support: role of social media in chronic illness management

Authors: Liu Yang

Addresses: College of Health Care and Medicine, Zibo Polytechnic University, Zibo, 255300, China

Abstract: Although literature has shown that virtual communities (VC) and social media raise illness management awareness by enabling knowledge sharing, emotional support, and self-management tips. Drawing on social identity theory, this study specifically unfolds the associations among virtual communities, social media, social support, and chronic illness management (CIM) in the Chinese market. First, social media awareness was positively associated with CIM. Second, virtual communities and social support positively moderate the relationship between social media awareness and CIM. Besides, this study reports numerous applications for the management of CIM by emphasising virtual communities. In addition, this study has certain drawbacks that could be future research opportunities.

Keywords: virtual communities; social media; CIM; chronic illness management; social support; social identity theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2025.153496

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2025 Vol.33 No.4, pp.327 - 341

Received: 01 Mar 2025
Accepted: 04 Sep 2025
Published online: 11 May 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article