Examining Facebook Groups Engaging in Reading Experiences: The Interactive Therapeutic Process Perspective

Book Clubs

The virtual world is increasingly challenging offline social encounters (Meier & Reinecke, 2021), so much so that the reading groups on Facebook can be considered a modern replacement for the traditional book clubs. Traditionally, book clubs have been groups of people who meet to discuss books they have read, express their opinions about the meeting’s chosen book, and relate their preferences. Such reading groups may take place in the private homes of group members, in libraries, bookstores, pubs and cafes or restaurants as well as in educational institutions and local authorities; food and drink are usually served as part of the gathering (Álvarez-Álvarez, 2016; Radway, 1997). The topics discussed in book clubs vary and represent the variety of genres read in the group, the different opinions and interpretations of the participants, and the environment in which they operate.

Most often, groups of this type discuss a book that everyone has been asked to purchase and read in an allotted period of time. Women who take part in these clubs do so in order to find new ways to relate to each other, using cultural tools to develop personal identities (Craig, 2019), produce knowledge, and develop high cultural literacy and academic skills (Radway, 1997). In addition, book clubs have enabled women to overcome the long-standing gender discrimination and expectations they frequently face. Through conversations with other women, participants can acknowledge their opinions, express their arguments, and practice discussing their feelings and thoughts in a safe group (Craig, 2019).

With the advent of the Internet, book clubs started appearing on forums and blog platforms that enabled chats, bulletin boards, and list servers. The members of these groups published abstracts, reviews, and recommendations on books they had recently read, and held extensive discussions about the various characters and writing styles. The advantage of these platforms was the convenience they offered in terms of location, mobility, and schedules, in addition to the anonymity that characterized online spaces at the beginning of the 21^st century (Chelton, 2001). The novelty of virtual book clubs was the ability to conduct a real-time discussion of a particular book through synchronous and asynchronous discussions, in which a variety of people from anywhere in the world could participate at any time (Scharber, 2009).

Today, with social media having become such an important tool for information dissemination and socialization (Gazit, Aharony, & Amichai-Hamburger, 2019), Facebook groups have become the most popular platforms for this kind of activity. They often produce a sense of community and enhance members’ involvement, belonging, and socialization (Bar-Ilan et al., 2020; Gazit & Amichai-Hamburger, 2020). The interactions among the group members allow for the easy dissemination and exchange of information and knowledge within the community, with an open and accepting environment encouraging members’ participation (Moghavvemi, Sharabati, Klobas, & Sulaiman, 2018). In addition, the higher the trust among Facebook group members, the more confident they will feel in sharing opinions, thoughts, and experiences in the group, while enjoying an increased sense of security (Avizohar, Gazit, & Aharony, 2022). The high level of exposure to the variety of opinions and different perspectives in the group leads to the discovery of new perspectives, insights, and understanding of others while providing space for mutual support (Moghavvemi, Sharabati, Paramanathan, & Rahin, 2017; Naveh & Bronstein, 2019), which may lead to therapeutic processes of the members.

Serious Leisure Facebook Groups

Facebook groups, as spaces where group members can freely express their feelings and opinions, ask questions, and get information through writing and responding to posts, are becoming increasingly popular as online discussion groups (Bar-Ilan et al., 2020). These virtual communities allow people who share a common interest to cope with problems, give free expression to their opinions and feelings, and receive social and experiential support as well as become involved in political or social activities (Gazit, 2021). The common denominator driving participants to join a particular group is the desire to share thoughts and opinions (Hoseini, Saghafi, & Aghayi, 2019). However, members and groups’ leaders frequently relate to Facebook groups as communities and find a kind of therapy in them (Eitan & Gazit, 2021; Gal, Gazit, & Bronstein, 2022). The reading groups fall under the category of serious leisure groups. Stebbins (1992) defines “serious leisure” as the systematic pursuit of a hobby with a meaning sufficiently substantial, interesting, and fulfilling to lead the participant to pursue an additional amateur career in the field while expressing his or her special skills, knowledge, and experience. Sharing an understanding of the importance of activities around the hobby with like-minded people provides the impetus for creating serious leisure groups (Briliana, 2019).

Participating in Facebook groups as a serious leisure activity means maintaining an ongoing involvement and exceptional commitment to the group and its program that can result in enhanced self-confidence, self-satisfaction, and a significant sense of accomplishment (Lee & Hwang, 2018). In a study examining information behaviors among a group of Eurovision enthusiasts, three reasons were found for taking part in serious leisure groups: personal pleasure, habit and escapism, and the desire to belong to a group with similar interests (Bronstein & Lidor, 2020). Another study that examined Facebook groups of travelers in Indonesia found that individuals’ participation in the group extended beyond the need to find travelling partners and enabled them to establish their social status through frequent sharing of their experiences (Briliana, 2019).

Previous studies have been conducted on various serious leisure groups on Facebook, such as hiking groups (Briliana, 2019), square dancing for older adults (Schneider & McCoy, 2018), and a Eurovision amateur group (Bronstein & Lidor, 2020). However, to the best of our knowledge, no research has yet examined reading groups on Facebook as serious leisure groups. The aim of this study is to bridge this research gap by focusing on Facebook reading groups as support and therapeutic groups for female readers.

Interactive Therapeutic Process

Literary texts are often used as a tool to encourage an open discussion about emotions, enabling expressions of empathy through the experience of identification with characters in a story (Betzalel & Shechtman, 2017). According to Lenkowsky (1987), there are four conventional stages in the interactive therapeutic process that may lead to greater mental well-being for the reader. In the first, identification, the process begins with the reader identifying with the characters in the story, usually when a strong emotional response is generated. The identification allows the readers to discover parts of themselves and understand that they are not alone in their experiences. The second stage of projection is a gradual process in which the readers figuratively enter the skin of the character with whom they identify. The readers tend to attribute to the character their own qualities, feelings, and attitudes, and in this way, the readers reach a better understanding about themselves and their personal experiences. In the third stage of catharsis, the readers release repressed feelings and thoughts, achieving a sense of well-being and liberation as a result of their identification with the character and emotional involvement within the story. During the fourth stage of insight and integration, readers undergo internal processing that enables them to achieve enlightenment about themselves, their values, ​​and their abilities. The resulting awareness and understanding of a particular situation help the readers develop greater insights. Experiencing the four stages of this process enables them to find meaning in the text and reach a personal interpretation based on their own experiences. This process also evokes feelings, emotions, and insights that are inaccessible through direct speech; it is often related to bibliotherapy (Kobobi, 1991). This process has the potential to operate in a virtual group, where it encourages a shared and safe dialog about personal experiences and feelings (Gazit & Amichai-Hamburger, 2020).

In a book in which the main character is close in age and experiences to that of the reader, the sense of identification increases significantly, and distant observation of the situations the character goes through allows the reader to identify and acknowledge difficulties (Betzalel & Shechtman, 2017). That is, the text enables readers of all ages to identify with the different human situations presented in the books based on what they have experienced personally.

The stage of projection differs from the stage of identification in that it allows for the reader’s personal interpretation of the characters and their motives (Eich, 1999). During the projection phase, the readers live a life borrowed from the trappings of the fictional character, which gives them a different perspective on the character’s perceptions and motives. This reflects the readers’ own inner struggles and helps them learn lessons from the text as well as ways to cope with the problems of reality (Cohen, 1990). The projection facilitates a representation of the readers’ mental states and their connections to deeper layers of their own thoughts through the narrative dynamics that occur between the readers and the characters with whom they identify (Alderson-Day, Bernini, & Fernyhough, 2017; Gerrig, Brennan, & Ohaeri, 2001). When readers assume an initial general sense of similarity to the character, they engage in greater projection and less stereotyping (Ames, 2004). A deep emotional response to the text helps the readers see themselves as active participants in the plot, while trying to shape their identity in a way that may lead to more effective action in their own lives (McBride & Sweeney, 2019).

The third stage of catharsis opens a space between experience and reaction for the readers, thereby reducing the pressures they experience in their inner worlds (Allen et al., 2012). The space created by the text offers a safe framework in which the readers can feel that their emotions are legitimate and acceptable, allowing them to disassociate from burdensome past experiences more easily while understanding how they affected them in the short and long term (Shrodes, 1955). The fact that the character in the text is the one who goes through the experience makes it easier for the readers to reconcile the different emotions that the situation evoked in them (Cornett & Cornett, 1980). Catharsis is manifested not only through reading; Vieira (2019) has found that people turn to writing to heal physical and emotional traumas and to release both positive and negative emotions and feelings. Bibliotherapy and writing therapy use writing as a tool in the process of healing. Through creative and intuitive writing about emotions that arise from reading, the readers manage to achieve an emotional release of feelings arising from a significant event or experience, leading to an improvement in their physical and mental health (Kuriakose & Harsha, 2016; Tee, Mohamed, & Alias, 2014). It has also been found that writing while suffering from an overload of emotions, which usually comes after reading a book that has forced the reader to deal with past experiences and unpleasant feelings, makes it possible to cope with feelings such as stress, anxiety, and depression and more easily overcome them (Procaccia, Segre, Tamanza, & Manzoni, 2021). Expressing emotions through creative writing helps the readers come to terms with what they have felt and connect more deeply with their feelings, understanding that through these feelings they can more fully experience reality as well as reduce the perceived pressure (Gudenau, 2020; Mukhlis et al., 2020).

During the last phase in the interactive therapeutic process, readers reach new insights after internal mental and emotional processing. The readers recognize that they are dealing with personal problems that require a solution and the fictional text serves as a tool through which the readers can achieve emotional release and even engage in problem-solving (Byers, 2013). The connection created between the readers and the characters allows them to perceive the issues they share with the protagonist, which leads to an understanding of their personal experiences and deeper insights (De Vries et al., 2017).

The Current Research

This study examines the nature of the interactions between members in Facebook reading groups through the sharing of reading experiences, recommendations, and reviews. To date, past research has examined serious leisure groups, but no research has yet delved into the therapeutic process that takes place in the reading groups on Facebook. To bridge this research gap, this study will focus on reading groups on Facebook as support and therapeutic groups for female readers. Understanding the therapeutic process in these groups will help provide a new perspective about online reading groups and the value they provide to their members. Because of a dearth of research examining reading groups in social media, this study adopted a qualitative exploratory approach to examine the following questions:

What stages in Li, Liao, and Lai’s (1987) reading process do Facebook group members experience in their interactions with the text?

Population of the Study

The study was conducted in the two largest Israeli public Facebook reading groups engaged in reading romance novels, whose main purpose is to stimulate empathic and supportive literary discourse among the Facebook group members. At the time of the study, the first group ¹ contained 9,600 members and the second group ² 48,600 members. The two Facebook reading groups that were chosen are the largest, most active ones in Israel, with frequent book reviews written by a variety of Facebook group members. The sample included only women, as they usually make up the majority of social media participants engaged in reading groups (Thelwall & Kousha, 2017). Consequently, the interviews were conducted with twenty women who were Facebook group members, read books in their free time, and had published reviews of their reading experiences. These women were considered particularly active group members, as they claimed they were used to upload 4–5 posts / reviews a week, actively participated in discussions, and responded to their friends on a daily basis. Of the interviewees, 8 were reviewers who received free books from publishers. At the same time, it is important to note that these reviewers were not obligated to review any book they received or any book they did not like. The other 12 interviewees were members who wrote reviews without receiving free books. The reactions to the published reviews in these groups lead to discussions about the book, sharing thoughts about the book, and a fruitful discourse about the feelings that arise in Facebook group members who have read the book. The interviewees were aged 24 to 55 (M = 38; SD = 8.316). All the interviewees had been members of the two groups studied for two to five years and came from different regions of Israel.

Recruitment of the interviewees was done by posting a message in the two Facebook groups, in which one of the researchers was a member, after receiving approval from the group admins to do so, in accordance with Facebook’s ethical standards. ³ The recruitment process and the interview guide were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Data Collection

The data collection method chosen for this study was a semi-structured, in-depth interview of the Facebook group members, in which they discussed the reasons for sharing reading experiences in reading groups on Facebook. The choice of this method allows for a deep and comprehensive collection of information and a broad understanding of the actions and perceptions pertaining to the examined question (Corbin & Strauss, 2014). In addition, this method offers insights into the inner world of the interviewees, who reveal their personal and professional experiences in the conversations. The interview guide included 11 main open-ended questions in which the interviewees were asked about their reading habits, about participating in Facebook groups, and about their feelings from sharing group reading experiences and the meaning of the sharing process for them.

The construction of the questionnaire reflected the two main themes of this study. First, the questions were organized according to the four stages in the Interactive Therapeutic Process to probe participants about the processes they experience when they participate in the Facebook group. The questionnaire also addressed three main activities: reading books, participating in Facebook groups, and sharing book reviews with the group. The questions were formulated to induce participants to talk about their reading experiences and their motivations to share these experiences with the group (See Appendix A). The order of the questions was determined according to the natural conversational flow that developed and the interviewees were able to speak freely, introduce new topics, and share information (Turner, 2010). The interviews were conducted by one of the authors, who is familiar with these Facebook groups. The interviews were held in accordance with the rules of qualitative research (Josselson, 2013; Levitt, 2020) by video, using Zoom software that enables a real-time videotaped conversation at a convenient space and time for the interviewees.

The interviews lasted about an hour on average, with the longest interview lasting about an hour and forty minutes and the shortest about 25 min. Each of the interviews was transcribed in a separate Word file and filed in a suitable folder containing the recording file of the interview with the interviewee and her digitally signed consent form. The interviews were completed after a theoretical saturation was achieved, as reflected in the respondents’ return to topics and information presented in previous interviews and when no new and fundamentally different information than that raised in previous interviews was provided (Lincoln & Guba, 1986). Since the data was collected in Hebrew and translated into English by the researchers, we used the double or back translation method to secure the reliability of the data translated. Using this method, we first translated the data from Hebrew into English (forward translation) and then the data was translated into Hebrew by an expert in both languages (back translation), at which time both versions of the data were checked for accuracy (Dhamani & Richter, 2011).

To maintain and manage data protection within our research, interview documents were stored on the researchers’ computers, in password-protected folders that are accessible only to the researchers.

Coding and Analysis

The analysis of the data was conducted in two main stages. First a deductive thematic analysis, based on earlier works, such as theories or models, was carried out (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008) to find concepts related to Li et al.’s (1987) four stages of the interactive therapeutic process in the data: identification, projection, catharsis, and insight and integration. At this stage, it became clear that data were found that did not fit Lenkowsky’s theoretical elements and did not fall into the existing categories. This realization led to the second stage of the analysis in which data were analyzed inductively. It is at this stage that the fifth category – “communality” – was uncovered, thus expanding Lenkowsky’s model (1987) and adapting it to the online collaborative space. The thematic analysis of the data also revealed three main information actions in which the stages of the interactive therapeutic process took place: reading, writing, and sharing. It should be noted that not all three actions took place at all stages (see Table 1).

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Table 1.

The Interactive Therapeutic Process Stages by the Information Activities.

Interactive Therapeutic Process Stage	Informational Activity	Explanation
Identification	Reading	The reasons why the interviewees read a book, what reading means to them. What they felt during the reading, when they felt identification with the characters, and why. What situations did the characters in the book go through that made the interviewees feel empathy and connect with the characters?
	Writing	The extent to which the writing about the book comes from empathy. The degree to which writing the review is a way of expressing the process the reader went through while reading the book.
	Sharing	The extent to which sharing reflects identification with the character and serves as empowerment.
Projection	Reading	The forms of projection the interviewees experienced during the reading, how they felt they could project themselves onto the character or situation.
	Writing	In what way the projection was reflected in writing the review.
	Sharing*	The extent to which sharing reflects self-projection on the character.
Catharsis	Reading*	The extent to which the reading and experiences that the character goes through helped the interviewees release from themselves the yoke of similar personal experiences, and made them feel better.
	Writing	The different ways in which the interviewees feel liberated through the act of writing, and how it helps them in releasing their emotions.
	Sharing	The extent to which the act of sharing in the Facebook groups helps the interviewees release the weight of their feelings and personal experiences from themselves following the reading.
Insight	Reading	What insights the interviewees gain during the reading, what they learn from the books, and what cognitive processes they go through during the reading.
	Writing*	What insights the interviewees gain during the act of writing following reading the book and how the writing enable them to apply them.
	Sharing	What is the meaning of sharing in terms of insight, and what it gives to the interviewees. How they feel when they share their insights with other readers in the Facebook group.
Communality	Reading	The reasons why the interviewees feel the need to share their reading experiences in the Facebook group and what they gain from it.
	Writing*	The meaning of writing the review within the Facebook groups.
	Sharing	The meaning of sharing in the Facebook group, what is the added value that the sharing gives them, and how the participants experience the act of sharing.

* This stage was not found during the interviews.

Identification

Identification with a character in a book is created following a strong emotional response, which allows the reader to discover parts of herself that she was not aware of (Betzalel & Shechtman, 2017). Other people, even if fictitious, went through the same things as she, thinking identical thoughts and dealing with emotions identical to those of the reader. The greater the intensity of the emotional connection to the character and her actions, experiences, and thoughts, the stronger the intensity of identification will be (Cohen, 1990). After examining the findings, it was found that the identification stage took place in each of the three informational actions found in the study.

Projection

The projection stage allows for a representation of the reader’s mental state and the reader’s inner connection to deeper layers that take place in their minds through the narrative dynamics that occur between the readers and the character with whom they identify (Alderson-Day et al., 2017; Gerrig et al., 2001). The findings of the study show that the projection stage is reflected in only two informational actions: reading and writing.

Catharsis

The text provides the reader with a safe framework in which she can feel acceptance and inclusion and this very acceptance allows her to free herself from past experiences and feelings they evoked in her, while understanding how they affected her soul and life (Shrodes, 1955). Moreover, the dynamic between the reader and the book makes it possible to experience catharsis in a safe context, because it is not the reader who goes through the experience, but the character in the book, which makes it easier to cope with the different emotions the situation evoked (Cornett & Cornett, 1980). Only a few interviewees managed to reach this stage. For the most part, the reading experience remained in the identification stage; only those interviewees who experienced more difficult situations in their lives and read a book addressing a similar subject were able to feel the catharsis experience while writing and sharing.

Insight

Insight occurs after internal processing and helps the reader reach understanding and enlightenment regarding herself and her values and abilities. Through the text, the reader recognizes that she is dealing personally with a problem in her life that she must solve; the fictional story serves as a tool for emotional release and problem-solving (Byers, 2013). Insight was expressed in only two informational actions: reading and sharing.

Communality

During data analysis, a new stage in the interactive therapeutic process was discovered: a communality stage that has not been discussed in the literature focusing on face-to-face processes (Lenkowsky, 1987). This stage highlights the meaning of sharing personal experiences from reading the book in a virtual space. All the interviewees were active members of Facebook groups who are well known to the other members on a regular basis. According to previous studies, the more comfortable participants are in the virtual group, the easier it is for them to have discussions and share experiences (Pi, Chou, & Liao, 2013). Moreover, the more secure and familiar the virtual environment is, the more members of the group will feel confident in actively participating in discussions (Gazit et al., 2018).

Although most of the acquaintance between the Facebook group members is virtual only, there seems to be a feeling of relaxation and closeness in the groups that allows its members to share what they experienced during the reading more easily. Interviewee #13 observed:

Even though I have not met any of the girls offline, I feel like their close friend. The group gives me a constant connection to what is happening, it allows me a sense of belonging.

The sense of community that was created within the research groups is especially important, because it allowed them to gain exposure to each other and attain a different perspective on issues that concern Facebook group members on a daily basis. Interviewee #14 emphasized this issue:

One member complements the other; there are diverse perspectives that lead to completion. The group opened our eyes to experiences, to people, to everything.

Findings show that the community stage was reflected in only two informational actions: reading and sharing.