"Sick Blogs" Helpful? Any RTs Using Blogs?

An article on "sick blogs" appeared this morning in our local newspaper. Reasons for blogging about how a person is doing with an illness were discussed in the article. These included providing updates to family and friends and describing treatments for others with the illness. Another reason mentioned was the cathartic value of sharing thoughts with others.

I can certainly see the therapeutic potential of " sick blogs." So I did some searching on the Internet to determine what I could find about the therapeutic value of such blogs. Unfortunately, the Internet revealed little in terms of articles or research on "sick blogs."

I would be very interested to know if RT clients are blogging and, if so, how RTs are facilitating these bloggers. If you are helping clients with developing "sick blogs" I hope you will comment on this post.

The blogger with the first "sick blog" with which I am familiar was Jerry Dickason. Many of you know Jerry as a former RT in Indiana and Red Cross worker who became an RT professor at NYU and Montclair State University and who was a national leader in RT (e.g., past NTRS president). Jerry is now retired. His blog is "Dickason's Prostate Cancer." There is a post on the RT Blog dated May 22, 2006, that talks about Jerry's blog. By the way, Jerry's blog is wonderfully written and provides many insights about both Jerry and the cancer with which he is dealing.