Online informal support networks may provide a critical source of support for young people who self-injure. While these platforms are often intended to mitigate digital harm, there is limited understanding of how individuals use peer support venues to seek self-injury related support and the specific contingencies of supportive exchanges. The present mixed-methods study was designed to explore the types of concerns members express on a mobile peer support application and the types of responses that they receive. Specifically, our aims were to (1) understand the prevalence of peer support types exchanged and (2) surface more nuanced themes within these categories of support. We also explore the relationship between support sought through posts and received through comments. Findings have important theoretical implications for understanding support seeking and provision through a mobile peer support app, which can help guide the design and optimization of peer-driven platforms for individuals who self-injure.

In this paper, we explore the use of virtual reality (VR) in assisting individuals who self-injure. Past work on self-injury in HCI has focused almost exclusively on mobile applications and message boards. As VR systems become more common, it is worth exploring what unique affordances of the technology can be leveraged to support self-injury reduction and cessation. Research on VR intervention and self-injury treatment informed the design of three novel virtual reality experiences. Nineteen interviews were conducted with individuals with current, or a past history of, self-injury with the goals of uncovering overall impressions of the perceived efficacy of VR with this population, as well as better understanding key mechanisms which impact their experience. Our analysis reveals four key elements common across all experiences: transportation, embodiment, immersion/distraction, and sense of control, and additional themes within each unique experience. We discuss the implications of these findings for future intervention design.

Social media sites are where life happens for many of today's young people, so it is important to teach them to use these sites safely and effectively. Many youth receive classroom education on digital literacy topics, but have few chances to build actual skills. Social Media TestDrive, an interactive social media simulation, fills a gap in digital literacy education by combining experiential learning in a realistic and safe social media environment with educator-facilitated classroom lessons. The tool was piloted with 12 educators and over 200 students, and formative evaluation data suggest that TestDrive achieved high levels of engagement with both groups. Students reported the modules enhanced their understanding of digital citizenship issues, and educators noted that students were engaging in meaningful classroom conversations. Finally, we discuss the importance of involving multiple stakeholder groups (e.g., researchers, youth, educators, curriculum developers) in designing educational technology.

People often share emotions with others in order to manage their emotional experiences. We investigate how social media properties such as visibility and directedness affect how people share emotions in Facebook, and their satisfaction after doing so. 141 participants rated 1,628 of their own recent status updates, posts they made on others' timelines, and private messages they sent for intensity, valence, personal relevance, and overall satisfaction felt after sharing each message. For network-visible channels-status updates and posts on others' timelines-they also rated their satisfaction with replies they received. People shared differently between channels, with more intense and negative emotions in private messages. People felt more satisfied after sharing more positive emotions in all channels and after sharing more personally relevant emotions in network-visible channels. Finally, people's overall satisfaction after sharing emotions in network-visible channels is strongly tied to their reply satisfaction. Quality of replies, not just quantity, matters, suggesting the need for designs that help people receive valuable responses to their shared emotions.