Social Connection and Online Engagement: Insights From Interviews With Users of a Mental Health Online Forum

Background Over the past 2 decades, online forums for mental health support have emerged as an important tool for improving mental health and well-being. There has been important research that analyzes the content of forum posts, studies on how and why individuals engage with forums, and how extensively forums are used. However, we still lack insights into key questions on how they are experienced from the perspective of their users, especially those in rural and remote settings.