I Am Proud and Hopeful: Age-Based Comparisons in Positive Coping Affect Among Women Who Use Online Peer-Support

Abstract

How do women who seek psychosocial support on the Internet by participating in cancer peer support groups respond to the process of coping with cancer? The current study examines whether older women with cancer have different perceptions about and are influenced to a different extent by online peer support than younger women. The study also explores age-based variations in outlook on coping with cancer as a result of using online support. Separate multivariate regression models estimated the effects of covariates on (1) positive coping affect (PCA) (2) positive coping affect-hopeful (PCA-H), and (3) positive coping affect-proud (PCA-P). A stratified analysis examined variations within age-based subsamples (≥51 and ≤50). Positive coping affect includes feeling proud about coping with cancer from a position of strength and empowerment rather than being a victim and being hopeful for a healthier future postdiagnosis. Online support was found to increase PCA significantly. This finding is consistent across age groups but was more pronounced for older patients. The only exception is that younger women perceive more benefit from using online support in terms of feeling proud. As severity of the symptoms increased, though the younger women increased the amount of time they were online, the older women increased the number of groups they participated in. The study concludes that the Internet might be particularly helpful for older adults who feel helpless to cope with cancer in old age. Online peer support services may help improve the patients' outlook on fighting with cancer and help them to feel more in control of their health.

Special aspects of social support: Qualitative analysis of oncologic rehabilitation through a belly dancing peer support group

“…Others' acts of sympathy and understanding may strengthen the perceived importance of the patient, and may help feel valuable and feel like "it is worth" getting better. Peers can help each other in several forms: telephone-based or online support groups can provide relative impersonality and patients may open up more easily (Batenburg & Das, 2014;Bender, Katz, Ferris, & Jadad, 2013;Seckin, 2011;Yli-Uotila, Rantanen, & Suominen, 2013), while the traditional face-to-face support group provides personal, direct relationships among members (Liess et al, 2008;van Uden-Kraan et al, 2011). Peer patients provide an example of coping, they are a source of information, understand the experience, and also personal feelings can be shared without boundaries.…”

“…These are opportunities that cannot be provided by a spouse or friends, family members or even by professional medical support (Grande, Myers, & Sutton, 2006;Meyer, Coroiu, & Korner, 2015). Peers can help each other in several forms: telephone-based or online support groups can provide relative impersonality and patients may open up more easily (Batenburg & Das, 2014;Bender, Katz, Ferris, & Jadad, 2013;Seckin, 2011;Yli-Uotila, Rantanen, & Suominen, 2013), while the traditional face-to-face support group provides personal, direct relationships among members (Liess et al, 2008;van Uden-Kraan et al, 2011).…”

Engaging Elderly Breast Cancer Patients: The Potential of eHealth Interventions

“…Age-appropriate patient education interventions might need to be designed and realized to prepare older women for the social, physical, function and treatment-related effects of breast cancer and thus reducing their anxiety and increasing their control over the situation (Treacy and Mayer, 2000; Seçkin, 2011). eHealth interventions allow to develop integrated, sustainable and patient-centered services, to promote and enhance health and to augment the efficacy and efficiency of the process of healthcare (Eysenbach, 2001; Graffigna et al, 2014; Barello et al, 2016).…”

“…eHealth interventions allow to develop integrated, sustainable and patient-centered services, to promote and enhance health and to augment the efficacy and efficiency of the process of healthcare (Eysenbach, 2001; Graffigna et al, 2014; Barello et al, 2016). As investigated by Fogel et al (2002), age, length of time since diagnosis, and breast cancer stage are unrelated to Internet use and an increasing number of patients of any age are accessing health information on the Internet (Seçkin, 2011). …”

“…One includes the use of personal websites to improve the emotional wellbeing of breast cancer women by helping them to construct a narrative of their experience, express emotions, and receive the social support they need, particularly from friends and extended family (Harris et al, 2015). A second is aimed to enhance social support through online peer support interventions, and recently older women reported that they receive more benefits from using online support groups especially in regard to feeling in control of their health and feeling less distressed than younger women (Seçkin, 2011). A third proposes coping skills trainings aimed to take under control patients' affective state.…”