Background Online communities are new sites for undertaking research, with their textual interactions providing a rich source of data in real time. ‘Ethnonetnography’ is a research methodology based on ethnography that can be used in these online communities. In this study, the researcher and a specialist breast care nurse (SBCN) were immersed in the online community, adding to patients’ breast cancer care and providing a nursing research component to the community.

Aim To examine Kozinets’ (2010) framework for ethnonetnography and how it may be varied for use in a purpose-built, disease-specific, online support community.

Discussion The online community provided an area where members could communicate with each other. Kozinets’ (2010) framework was varied in that the research was carried out in a purpose-built community opf which an SBCN was a member who could provide support and advice. The application of the ethnonetnographic methodology has wide implications for clinical nursing practice and research.

Conclusion Ethnonetnography can be used to study disease-specific communities in a focused manner and can provide immediate benefits through the inclusion of an expert nurse and contemporaneous application of research findings to patient care.

Implications for practice With ethical permission and the permission of online community members, nurse researchers can enter already established online communities. Ethnonetnography is ideally suited to nursing research as it provides the immediacy of evidence-based interaction with an expert nurse. These real-time responses improve support for those experiencing a critical life event.