Buis, Lorraine R., and Pamela Whitten. "Comparison of social support content within online communities for high-and low-survival-rate cancers." CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing 29.8 (2011): 461-467.

This study investigates the variation of social support content within online support communities for cancers with differing 5-year relative survival rates. Through a quantitative content analysis of 3717 posts from eight online communities, the research aimed to test predictions made by Optimal Matching Theory regarding the prevalence of emotional versus informational support content. Contrary to expectations, communities associated with low-survival-rate cancers exhibited a higher proportion of informational support content, while high-survival-rate communities had more emotional support content. These findings challenge the initial hypothesis and suggest that individuals facing cancers with lower survival rates may seek more informational support than those with higher survival rates.