Helping Their Child, Helping Each Other: Parents’ Mediated Social Support in the Children's Hospital

Abstract

During a health crisis, such as the hospitalization of a child with a serious illness, families must adjust and support each other in coordinating care. CSCW researchers have shown the potential for collaborative technologies to enhance social support in different settings. However, less is known about the potential for CSCW technologies to augment social support practices within family caregiving circles. In this poster, we describe findings from 14 interviews with parents of children hospitalized for cancer treatment. We categorized the support practices between parents and found that they rely heavily on technology to support each other from a distance. We identified opportunities for designing future collaborative technology to augment social support in caregiving teams.