An investigation of support services available by Internet searching to families impacted by a parent's cancer

Abstract

Objective: Throughout a parent's cancer diagnosis and treatment, families are likely to turn to the Internet to find social, emotional, and informational support services. It is important that professionals understand the content and availability of support discoverable through Web searches. This study identified and described Web-based information regarding support services offered to families when a parent has cancer.Methods: Predefined key search terms were searched across 2 public Web browsers for a period of 3 months. Web-based information of support services (n = 25) was abstracted, and their key criteria examined.Results: Of services offering face-to-face support (n = 22), more were founded by persons impacted by cancer (n = 10) (patients, parents, and offspring) than professionals (n = 4). Services

Digital health support – a good thing, but not for me: experiences of family caregivers and healthcare staff

“…Higher eHealth literacy was associated with very severe COPD, lower lung-specific health-related quality of life, and greater COPD knowledge. Family caregivers in Iran have been found to have a poor level of eHealth literacy and those with higher eHealth literacy were found to have higher skills in obtaining health and medical information from the internet (Soleimaninejad et al, 2019) ICT for supporting relatives and family caregivers Although most studies in ICT support are related to those directed at patients, there is some evidence of ICT approaches directed at relatives of patients who are affected by various different diseases and conditions, that is, relatives of patients who are affected by cancer (Leow & Chan, 2016;Morris et al, 2018;Tang et al, 2014) and relatives of older people (Barbabella et al, 2016). Internet-based support for family caregivers could be beneficial in that it could result in a sense of inclusion and belonging (Newman et al, 2019), but no evaluated IT approaches for supporting relatives of patients affected by COPD were found.…”

Internet Searching of Client Information by Social Workers: Reckless or Required in Today’s Online Society?

“…While there is much concern about internet searching of client information, research has found that obtaining internet information for clients can have therapeutic benefits. For example, Morris et al (2018) examined the online resources and supportive services available to individuals whose parents have cancer, citing the value of internet searching for gathering critical information related to diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, the Internet has been found to be an effective way to connect those with similar interests or problems, serving as a great advocacy tool that can mitigate isolation that may be associated with diversity or difference (Bowen et al 2017).…”

“…3). Viewing the gathering of internet information about clients as distinct from other client data available to social workers contradicts the ecological perspective and causes confusion for social workers given its widespread value for obtaining critical therapeutic information by both clients (Morris et al, 2018) and practitioners (Pirelli et al, 2018).…”

Untitled

“…While there is much concern about internet searching of client information, research has found that obtaining internet information for clients can have therapeutic benefits. For example, Morris et al (2018) examined the online resources and supportive services available to individuals whose parents have cancer, citing the value of internet searching for gathering critical information related to diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, the Internet has been found to be an effective way to connect those with similar interests or problems, serving as a great advocacy tool that can mitigate isolation that may be associated with diversity or difference (Bowen et al 2017).…”

“…3). Viewing the gathering of internet information about clients as distinct from other client data available to social workers contradicts the ecological perspective and causes confusion for social workers given its widespread value for obtaining critical therapeutic information by both clients (Morris et al, 2018) and practitioners (Pirelli et al, 2018).…”