Josefsson, Ulrika. "Patients’ online communities experiences of emergent Swedish self-help on the internet." Communities and Technologies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Communities and Technologies; C&T 2003. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2003.

This paper explores the characteristics of Patients' Online Communities (POC) in Sweden to enhance understanding of how individuals design online social support, with implications for broader design perspectives. The study offers a detailed analysis of POC, including contextual structures and community culture. Two key driving forces of POC—information seeking and interaction with similar individuals—are identified. The paper discusses how experiences from POC can inform the design of Internet-based communication between patients and healthcare providers.