Prevalence rates in the two regions in Germany and Denmark were similar, despite significantly different response rates. This difference may reflect various attitudes towards answering a questionnaire, but the response rate on questions concerning UI seemed consistent.

The internet provides new ways of forming social relationships among people with breast cancer and is increasingly used for this purpose. This qualitative study, using ethnographic case-study method, aimed to explore how support groups on the internet can break the social isolation that follows cancer and chronic pain, by analysing the storytelling emerging on the Scandinavian Breast Cancer Mailing list. Using participant observation and face-to-face or online interviews of participants, we investigated the motivations of 15 women who chose the internet to counteract social isolation after breast cancer. The results showed that the women were empowered by the exchanges of knowledge and experience within the support group. The internet was considered a means for finding ways of living with breast cancer. Our study suggests that internet support groups have important potential for the rehabilitation of cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a randomised study to investigate whether providing a self-guided Internet support group to cancer patients affected mood disturbance and adjustment to cancer. METHODS: Baseline and 1-, 6-and 12-month assessments were conducted from 2004 to 2006 at a national rehabilitation centre in Denmark. A total of 58 rehabilitation course weeks including 921 survivors of various cancers were randomly assigned to a control or an intervention group by cluster randomisation. The intervention was a lecture on the use of the Internet for support and information followed by participation in an Internet support group. Outcome measures included self-reported mood disturbance, adjustment to cancer and self-rated health. Differences in scores were compared between the control group and the intervention group. RESULTS: The effect of the intervention on mood disturbance and adjustment to cancer showed a transient difference at the 6-month follow-up, where the intervention group reported less reduction in anxious preoccupation (P ¼ 0.04), helplessness (P ¼ 0.002), confusion (P ¼ 0.001) and depression (P ¼ 0.04). Otherwise no significant effects were observed. CONCLUSION: We conclude that use of Internet-based support groups in cancer patients still needs to confirm long-lasting psychological effects.

No abstract

This study adds to the discussion on social inequality in internet use by cancer patients, showing that patients who are not inclined to use internet-based interventions are characterized by social position and employ more passive coping strategies.