What can social work practice learn from research on online support groups?

This article presents a selective review of scholarly approaches to online support groups, to assess the relevance of current research to social work practice, and to suggest future directions. We found that methodological individualism thrives in the literature, while studies on positional factors such as the dynamics deriving from the positions of the client and the professional, are comparatively rare. With our focus on client work, we argue that the development of social work practices would benefit from a more explicit investigation of the interaction between clients and professionals in the research concerning online support groups.