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In January 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 and its prevalence around the world posed a great threat to the lives and health of human beings, triggering a global public health crisis. In response to the epidemic, the governments of different countries adopted intervening measures to control the spread of the virus, such as the lockdown of cities and restrictions on travel and social contact (Bedford et al., 2020; Tian et al., 2020). These measures have been effective in controlling the spread of the virus, but have also forced people to stay at home. Older people with underlying illnesses cannot acquire offline professional medical advice during a quarantine period (Armitage & Nellums, 2020). The difficulties in accessing adequate health information and social support from offline sources drives the elderly to increase their use of the Internet (Yang et al., 2020).
Online health communities (OHCs) with specialized physicians have become an important way for the elderly to access health information and social support. During the COVID-19 outbreak, many Chinese OHCs have also provided people with more convenient access to professional medical consultation services in various ways. The inability of elderly people to use traditional methods of medical consultation due to a quarantine policy promotes the continued use of OHCs by elderly people. Also, the use of OHCs is an effective way for the elderly to obtain online social support (Yan, Wang, Chen, & Zhang, 2016). Online social support is effective in improving the level of mental health of the elderly during a quarantine period (Chen et al., 2020). Therefore, the use of OHCs during the COVID-19 outbreak is significant for the elderly.
Impacted by their ability to gain access to digital resources (Armitage & Nellums, 2020), the elderly have difficulty accepting or using OHCs, compared to other age groups, and their continuous use intention (CUI) is low. Makai et al. showed that the main reasons why elderly people do not use OHCs are a lack of necessary computer skills and a preference for traditional methods of medical consultation (Makai et al., 2014).
Previous studies have examined the continuous use behavior of the elderly regarding OHCs from different perspectives (Gu, Yang, Li, Jain, & Liang, 2018). However, the outbreak of COVID-19 and the implementation of quarantine measures can also promote the acceptance and continuous use of OHCs. Studies such as those on H1N1 have shown that the emergence of public health incidents significantly increases an individual’s use of online communities (Schulz, Jonker, & Faber, 2018). For example, Roberts et al. (2017) analyzed online information and showed that when people were threatened by Ebola, the use of OHCs increased (Roberts, Seymour, Fish, Robinson, & Zuckerman, 2017). However, this kind of promotion and use is coercive in nature. Therefore, a longitudinal timeline-based comparison is needed to understand the impact of public health emergencies on the continued use of OHCs among the elderly. The existing research does not answer the following questions:
- 1.
What are the differences in the use of OHCs by elderly people before and after the COVID-19 outbreak?
- 2.
How has online social support influenced elderly people’s sense of an OHCs before and after the COVID-19 outbreak?
- 3.
How has the sense of an OHCs influenced elderly people’s continuous use behavior regarding OHCs before and after the COVID-19 outbreak?
This study examines the differences in social support, sense of online community (SOC), and the CUI of the elderly toward OHCs during different time periods. Our research collected and analyzed relevant data before, during, and after COVID-19 outbreaks to explore the above questions. It is helpful to compare the differences in the SOC and the intention to use OHCs among the elderly during public health emergencies and during non-emergency times. The data can help governments and other agencies assess the impact of COVID-19. In addition, this research can help OHCs improve the content and quality of their services in response to the continuing COVID-19 epidemic.