“So now I’m panic attack free!”: Response stories in a peer-to-peer online advice forum on pregnancy and parenting

Abstract

This paper examines the functions of stories in an online peer-to-peer advice forum on pregnancy and parenting, particularly drawing attention to how parents as advice-givers use stories in health-related discussions. The analysis shows that stories are multi-functional, serving to establish rapport with advice-seekers, give and support advice, express and substantiate agreement or disagreement. The results add to the current scholarship by showing that response stories can be used to give etiological (causal) assessments of others’ health issues, thus delivering a diagnostic opinion.