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drinkers. The group had an international membership and advocated the use of
social support, rather than intervention by professional services, to help its
membership overcome problem drinking. The paper considers the roles that these
new forms of Internet mediated self-help and social support might play in
changing the relationships of those who participate in them towards traditional
health and social care services. The paper also critically examines the extent
to which such fora might function as virtual ‘communities’ of care.
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