Perspectives of People With Cancer or Hereditary Cancer Risk on the Use and Value of Online Peer Support

Holdren, Jill; Surkan, Karl; Downing, Andrea S.

doi:10.17294/2330-0698.1968

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 36 publications

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“…This support reduces isolation, improves quality of life and cancer-related knowledge, and provides cancer patients and survivors with a sense of control over their cancer [44][45][46][47][48]. With that said, peer support may work best when offered in conjunction with professional support, as there may be concerns about misinformation [49,50]. Because of this, it is important that survivors are able to leverage both formal and informal resources so they have well-rounded support to meet their needs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Men’s Experiences with Follow-Up Care following Primary Treatment for Prostate Cancer in Atlantic Canada: A Qualitative Study

Urquhart,

Scruton,

Radford

et al. 2023

Current Oncology

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Prostate cancer is a common and life-altering condition among Canadian men, yet little is known about how follow-up care is provided to those who have completed treatment. Despite improving survival rates, survivors experience ongoing needs and are often not provided with support to manage them. This study sought to investigate the post-treatment experiences and needs of prostate cancer survivors and to determine if and how these needs are being met. Using a qualitative description design, prostate cancer survivors who had completed treatment took part in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were recorded and analyzed thematically. The participants experienced varying levels of satisfaction with their follow-up care. While primary care providers played significant roles, continuity of care and specialist involvement varied. Most participants felt unprepared to manage the long-term effects of their cancer due to a lack of information and resources from their healthcare providers. Instead, participants turned to their peers for support. Ongoing physical and psychosocial needs went unmet and had significant impacts on their daily lives. Participants felt that support for these issues should be automatically integrated into their follow-up care. In summary, this study revealed the importance of integrated, patient-centered follow-up care for prostate cancer in Atlantic Canada.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Men’s Experiences with Follow-Up Care following Primary Treatment for Prostate Cancer in Atlantic Canada: A Qualitative Study

Urquhart,

Scruton,

Radford

et al. 2023

Current Oncology

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Cancer Peer Support Groups in Australia: A Review of Consumer Resources

Rajkhowa,

Williams,

O’Connor

et al. 2023

Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet

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Selling Misleading “Cancer Cure” Books on Amazon: Systematic Search on Amazon.com and Thematic Analysis

Zenone,

van Schalkwyk,

Hartwell

et al. 2024

J Med Internet Res

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Background While the evidence base on web-based cancer misinformation continues to develop, relatively little is known about the extent of such information on the world’s largest e-commerce website, Amazon. Multiple media reports indicate that Amazon may host on its platform questionable cancer-related products for sale, such as books on purported cancer cures. This context suggests an urgent need to evaluate Amazon.com for cancer misinformation. Objective This study sought to (1) examine to what extent are misleading cancer cure books for sale on Amazon.com and (2) determine how cancer cure books on Amazon.com provide misleading cancer information. Methods We searched “cancer cure” on Amazon.com and retrieved the top 1000 English-language book search results. We reviewed the books’ descriptions and titles to determine whether the books provided misleading cancer cure or treatment information. We considered a book to be misleading if it suggested scientifically unsupported cancer treatment approaches to cure or meaningfully treat cancer. Among books coded as misleading, we conducted an inductive latent thematic analysis to determine the informational value the books sought to offer. Results Nearly half (494/1000, 49.4%) of the sampled “cancer cure” books for sale on Amazon.com appeared to contain misleading cancer treatment and cure information. Overall, 17 (51.5%) out of 33 Amazon.com results pages had 50% or more of the books coded as misleading. The first search result page had the highest percentage of misleading books (23/33, 69.7%). Misleading books (n=494) contained eight themes: (1) claims of efficacious cancer cure strategies (n=451, 91.3%), (2) oversimplifying cancer and cancer treatment (n=194, 39.3%), (3) falsely justifying ineffective treatments as science based (n=189, 38.3%), (4) discrediting conventional cancer treatments (n=169, 34.2%), (5) finding the true cause of cancer (n=133, 26.9%), (6) homogenizing cancer (n=132, 26.7%), (7) discovery of new cancer treatments (n=119, 24.1%), and (8) cancer cure suppression (n=82, 16.6%). Conclusions The results demonstrate that misleading cancer cure books are for sale, visible, and prevalent on Amazon.com, with prominence in initial search hits. These misleading books for sale on Amazon can be conceived of as forming part of a wider, cross-platform, web-based information environment in which misleading cancer cures are often given prominence. Our results suggest that greater enforcement is needed from Amazon and that cancer-focused organizations should engage in preemptive misinformation debunking.

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Perspectives of People With Cancer or Hereditary Cancer Risk on the Use and Value of Online Peer Support

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Exploring Men’s Experiences with Follow-Up Care following Primary Treatment for Prostate Cancer in Atlantic Canada: A Qualitative Study

Exploring Men’s Experiences with Follow-Up Care following Primary Treatment for Prostate Cancer in Atlantic Canada: A Qualitative Study

Cancer Peer Support Groups in Australia: A Review of Consumer Resources

Selling Misleading “Cancer Cure” Books on Amazon: Systematic Search on Amazon.com and Thematic Analysis

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