The online health discussion (OHD) has increasingly become an important component in the practice of health informatics service, and many health users have gained benefits through OHD. Few studies have tried to answer how people obtain benefits from OHD. As a new type of online health information, OHD is composed of multiple messages with a discourse structure. By referring to Peirce’ semiotics, a theoretical model of the relationship of OHD with multiply meanings (i.e., discourse structure and health knowledge) and health users' perceived ben...
