Peer-to-Peer Communication, Cancer Prevention, and the Internet

Ancker, Jessica S.; Carpenter, Kristen M.; Greene, Paul G.; Hoffman, Randi; Kukafka, Rita; Marlow, Laura A.V.; Prigerson, Holly G.; Quillin, John M.

doi:10.1080/10810730902806760

Cited by 48 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Such communities can serve to either support or suppress health-promoting behaviours [2,9], though they have been noted as having largely positive effects [12]. This is possibly because they offer a means for people to learn more about the day-to-day aspects of living with a disease, managing a health condition or treatment side effects, and other lived experience aspects of health [9].…”

Section: Online Health Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Life transitions and online health communities

Massimi

Bender

Witteman

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work &Amp; Social Computing

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Online health communities are places where people can come together in order to exchange social support at a particular point in an individual's life. There are, however, relatively few accounts that look across multiple communities across the lifespan. In this paper, we reflect on four case studies of research on different online health communities in order to identify patterns in how individuals selectively adopt, use, and disengage from these communities throughout their lives. We argue that users leaving communities is not necessarily a failing of the site's design or purpose; rather, it is a logical reaction to changing life circumstances. In characterizing this pattern, we contribute a set of implications for design and management that bear consideration by online community designers, developers, moderators, and end users. Ultimately this may lead to a smoother transition from community to community and ensure that social support needs are being met more consistently in response to changing life circumstances.

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Section: Online Health Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Life transitions and online health communities

Massimi

Bender

Witteman

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work &Amp; Social Computing

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“…Although television advertising remains a critical component of tobacco control campaigns, it is becoming increasingly important to measure and understand the impact of antitobacco-related information across digital media platforms and the interactions across these platforms. To inform public health campaigns, we must identify message characteristics that make tobacco control information most likely to be consumed and shared with others across media platforms, thereby facilitating diffusion of such information (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). Examining message-level drivers of the selection-retransmission combination is also important because messages forwarded from close ties (eg, friends, family) are more likely to be perceived as persuasive and thereafter be disseminated by recipients (22,23).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Content Characteristics Driving the Diffusion of Antismoking Messages: Implications for Cancer Prevention in the Emerging Public Communication Environment

et al. 2013

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).This study examined how content characteristics of antitobacco messages affect smokers' selective exposure to and social sharing of those messages. Results from an experiment revealed that content features predicting smokers' selection of antismoking messages are different from those predicting whether those messages are shared. Antismoking messages smokers tend to select are characterized by strong arguments (odds ratio = 2.02, P = .02) and positive sentiments (odds ratio = 3.08, P = .03). Once selected, the messages more likely to be retransmitted by smokers were those with novel arguments (B = .83, P = .002) and positive sentiments (B = 1.65, P = .005). This research adds to the literature about the content characteristics driving the social diffusion of antitobacco messages and contributes to our understanding of the role of persuasive messages about smoking cessation in the emerging public communication environment. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 2013;47:182-187 Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of mortality in the United States and is a significant cancer risk factor. More than 90% of lung cancer is attributable to smoking tobacco, and tobacco use significantly increases the risk of developing all of the most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer (1). Thus, tobacco control efforts are critically important for cancer prevention. Tobacco control programs have historically relied heavily on traditional mass media to spread antitobacco messages (2-4). But Web 2.0 and the social media have resulted in rapid, profound changes in the media landscape (5-7). Implications for cancer prevention and tobacco control are just beginning to be understood.Rapid diffusion of new information technologies has created unprecedented opportunities for exposure to and sharing of antitobacco-related messages (ie, messages designed to prevent or curtail tobacco use). As of 2012, 81% of adults in the United States use the Internet, and 59% said they looked online for health-related topics (5). Of online adults, 67% reported using social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter (8). According to a recent survey (9), 53% of US adults get news forwarded to them via e-mail or social networking sites; 36% share news with their social networks via those platforms. In sum, the production and dissemination of health information in general, and of antismoking information in particular, is no longer in the hands of a few experts or major corporations; individuals now actively seek out, generate, and share information across their social networks (7,10).For more than 2 decades, tobacco control researchers have examined how exposure to televised antitobacco advertising affects individuals' cigarette smoking attitudes and behaviors (2,(11)(12)(13)(14). Although television advertising remains a critical component of tobacco control campaigns, it is becoming increasingly important to measure and understand the impact of antitobacco-related information across digital media platforms and the interactions across these platforms...

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“…A review of the literature suggests that many studies that have attempted to evaluate such groups have combined educational or psychotherapy components with peer interactions, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about the efficacy of online peer support (Eysenbach, Powell, Engelsakis, Rizo, & Stern, 2004;Gustafson et al, 2001). Some writers have expressed concerns about peer groups in general (Ancker et al, 2009). For example, health-related information exchanged may be inaccurate, biased, or incomplete, and peer modeling may sometimes lead to unhealthy behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Online Support Groups for Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Feasibility Pilot Study

Vilhauer

McClintock

Matthews

2010

Journal of Psychosocial Oncology

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This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of an online peer support group intervention for women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Feasibility, participation rates, participant satisfaction, and preliminary outcomes are examined from a 1999 to 2000 study of online peer support groups for women with MBC. Thirty women with MBC were randomly assigned to either an immediate online support condition or a waitlisted control condition. For practical and ethical reasons, the waitlist period was limited to 2 months. Six monthly assessments were collected using standardized measurement instruments. Intervention retention rates (73%), assessment completion rates (range = 100%-86% in retained participants) and support group participation (M = 5.9 days per week) were high compared to other published studies on this population. Reported satisfaction with the intervention was also high. An online support intervention study is feasible using a waitlist control. Despite the feasibility and acceptability of the study procedures, the study design and small sample size precluded definitive conclusions about intervention effectiveness. As such, study procedures should be replicated with a larger more representative sample to examine the effectiveness of the intervention.

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Peer-to-Peer Communication, Cancer Prevention, and the Internet

Cited by 48 publications

References 24 publications

Life transitions and online health communities

Life transitions and online health communities

Content Characteristics Driving the Diffusion of Antismoking Messages: Implications for Cancer Prevention in the Emerging Public Communication Environment

Online Support Groups for Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Feasibility Pilot Study

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