Contextual information needs of people in life transitions struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Introduction. Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a severe chronic mental health issue that significantly impacts people’s everyday lives. This study aims to reveal the contextual information needs of the people living with OCD during life transitions and how these needs dynamically evolve across various transitional stages.

Method. The study collected 1,500 posts from an OCD online forum of a well-known Chinese social media platform, Douban. A subsequent content analysis was performed on 324 selected valid posts.

Analysis. Guiding by the information behaviour theory of transitions, two rounds of open-coding analyses were conducted on the posts.

Results. Preliminary findings indicate that people with OCD have various types of contextual information needs during different transitional stages, namely understanding, negotiating, and resolving, suggested by the existing theory.

Conclusion. Information needs are context-specific, complex and continuously changing during life transitions of people with OCD. Our conclusion can provide theoretical insights for future research exploring the dynamic information needs during the mental health transitions. Additionally, it serves as a preliminary conceptual framework for various stakeholders to offer informational support to people with OCD.