Online Support Seeking and Breast Cancer Patients: Changes in Support Seeking Behavior following Diagnosis and Transition off Cancer Therapy

Mikal, Jude P.; Beckstrand, Michael; Parks, Elise; Oyenuga, Mosunmoluwa; Odebunmi, Tolulope; Okedele, Olasunmbo; Uchino, Bert N.; Horvath, Keith J.

doi:10.1080/10410236.2020.1712519

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, similar to other studies on the longevity of support availability ( Mikal et al, 2019 , 2020a , 2020b ), our study showed that social media platforms were very useful immediately following the transition to staying at home, but became less useful over time. Relatively quickly—by weeks three and four—social media exchanges once viewed as motivational and community-building began to wear thin for some users.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In the first two weeks of widespread of COVID-19 in the United States (3/8/2020–3/22/2020), we recruited individuals to participate in a weekly survey on social media use. Individuals were recruited via snowball sampling with announcements posted to several Facebook groups used in prior research studies ( Mikal et al, 2016 , 2017 , 2019 , 2020a , 2020b ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Social media as a modern Emergency Broadcast System: A longitudinal qualitative study of social media during COVID-19 and its impacts on social connection and social distancing compliance

Mikal

Wurtz

2021

Computers in Human Behavior Reports

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the wake of COVID-19 social distancing recommendations, social media assumed a central - if unofficial - role in ensuring that individuals remained informed and connected throughout the pandemic. Yet while research shows that social media can be an effective platform for connecting individuals socially and fostering social support exchanges, both the platforms and the support exchanged therein have been mired in considerable controversies regarding their use as a tool for positive social engagement. The goal of this study is to qualitatively evaluate longitudinal changes to social media engagement during social distancing recommendations and orders to shelter-in-place. To do this, we collected longitudinal, qualitative survey data from a group of adults over the eight weeks during which most states had issued orders to shelter-in-place. We analyze data for evidence of social connection, stress reduction, and support exchange, and evaluate the impact of online social ties on staying informed and on compliance with CDC recommendations and shelter-in-place orders. Results showed a clear longitudinal evolution of users’ online social engagement. Early use was characterized by agentic purposeful engagement, information sharing, and community resource mobilization. However, over time these patterns gave way to more passive use characterized by listlessness, contentiousness and misinformation as the pandemic wore on in weeks. As social media comes to occupy an increasingly important role in the exchange of information (and misinformation) this study has important implications for the health of users and the role of social media in future disasters, including how social media impacts both stress and health related behaviors.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media as a modern Emergency Broadcast System: A longitudinal qualitative study of social media during COVID-19 and its impacts on social connection and social distancing compliance

Mikal

Wurtz

2021

Computers in Human Behavior Reports

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The satisfaction in Sharsheret’s digital content and knowledge of constituents’ engagement in SM groups is critical because it has the potential to positively impact health outcomes. Prior literature suggests that SM groups can alleviate the psychosocial comorbidities of cancer diagnosis by buffering against stress and providing emotional support to cancer patients [ 20 ]. Previvors and survivors of HBOC have been shown to experience psychosocial distress that can impact decision making and long-term medical management, and previous work has highlighted a need for additional support and resources for this population beyond family members and genetic counselors [ 21 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Social Media Be Used as a Community-Building and Support Tool among Jewish Women Impacted by Breast and Ovarian Cancer? An Evidence-Based Observational Report

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

About 1 in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women carry a deleterious mutation in BRCA1/2 genes, predisposing them to hereditary breast/ovarian cancer (HBOC). Thus, efforts to prevent and control HBOC in the US must include sufficient outreach and education campaigns within and across the Jewish community. Social media (SM) is utilized in public health campaigns focused on cancer, but very little is known about the efficacy of those efforts when directed toward Jewish women at risk for (“previvors”) and affected by (“survivors”) HBOC. Here, we report on outcomes of a targeted SM campaign for this population, as led by a national not-for-profit HBOC advocacy organization. Mixed-methods data were obtained from n = 393 members of the community, including n = 20 key informants, and analyzed for engagement and satisfaction with its SM campaign and HBOC resources. Message recipients identified the SM campaign as helpful/meaningful (82%), of ‘newsworthy’ value (78%), and actionable/navigable (71%): interviews revealed that women were more likely to engage with SM if/when it featured stories relevant to their personal cancer experiences. SM is a valuable public health education tool to address the comprehensive cancer control and prevention needs of those previving and surviving with HBOC, including high-risk Jewish women.

show abstract

“…Although the prior work focused on support seeking in general, scholars have begun to consider informational support seeking as a novel form of support acquisition. Researchers have documented the presence (Blight et al, 2015)-or relative absence (Mikal et al, 2021)-of informational support seeking messages on social network sites. Scholars studying posts made to the online community Reddit about fussy eating among toddlers reported that almost half of all the posts they examined involved requests for practical advice and tips (Fraser et al, 2021).…”

Section: Illness and Social Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aforementioned studies and others like them (e.g., Nguyen et al, 2014; Rains et al, 2021) rely on dictionary-based methods to conduct computerized content analyses of large samples of discourse and regularly—though not always (e.g., Ashokkumar & Pennebaker, 2022)—adopt an inductive approach. Working from the assumption that different classes of language can reflect unique perceptual and psychological processes, scholars have developed extensive dictionaries to investigate discourse (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010).…”

Section: Properties Of Informational Support Seeking Messagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psycholinguistic Properties of Informational Support Seeking Posts in Online Health Communities and Predictors of Community Responsiveness

Rains

Carter

2022

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although informational support can be a valuable resource for coping with illness, our understanding of how it is solicited remains incomplete. We examine the language properties of more than 20,000 posts made to an online health community to better understand the perspective of people seeking informational support and identify properties that predict community responsiveness. Compared to posts in which informational support was not requested, posts soliciting informational support were more likely to use language reflecting efforts to make meaning from uncertainty related to a poster's ongoing illness experience. Among posts in which informational support was solicited, posts that discussed life-with-illness and used language indicating specific negative emotions like anger, anxiety, and sadness yielded a greater number of responses from online community members.

show abstract

Online Support Seeking and Breast Cancer Patients: Changes in Support Seeking Behavior following Diagnosis and Transition off Cancer Therapy

Cited by 13 publications

References 52 publications

Social media as a modern Emergency Broadcast System: A longitudinal qualitative study of social media during COVID-19 and its impacts on social connection and social distancing compliance

Social media as a modern Emergency Broadcast System: A longitudinal qualitative study of social media during COVID-19 and its impacts on social connection and social distancing compliance

Can Social Media Be Used as a Community-Building and Support Tool among Jewish Women Impacted by Breast and Ovarian Cancer? An Evidence-Based Observational Report

Psycholinguistic Properties of Informational Support Seeking Posts in Online Health Communities and Predictors of Community Responsiveness

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About