Social media-based interventions for patients with cancer: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of randomised controlled trials

Applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to Identify Factors Associated With Intention to Use Teledelivered Supportive Care Among Recently Diagnosed Breast Cancer Survivors During COVID-19 in Hong Kong: Cross-Sectional Survey

BACKGROUND

Many supportive cancer care (SCC) services were teledelivered during COVID-19, but what facilitates patients' intentions to use teledelivered SCC is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to use the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to investigate the factors associated with the intentions of breast cancer survivors (BCS) in Hong Kong to use various types of teledelivered SCC (including psychosocial care, medical consultation, complementary care, peer support groups). Favorable telehealth-related perceptions (higher performance expectancy, lower effort expectancy, more facilitating conditions, positive social influences), less technological anxiety, and greater fear of COVID-19 were hypothesized to be associated with higher intentions to use teledelivered SCC. Moreover, the associations between telehealth-related perceptions and intentions to use teledelivered SCC were hypothesized to be moderated by education level, such that associations between telehealth-related perceptions and intentions to use teledelivered SCC would be stronger among those with a higher education level.

METHODS

A sample of 209 (209/287, 72.8% completion rate) women diagnosed with breast cancer since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong (ie, January 2020) were recruited from the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Registry to complete a cross-sectional survey between June 2022 and December 2022. Participants' intentions to use various types of teledelivered SCC (dependent variables), telehealth-related perceptions (independent variables), and sociodemographic variables (eg, education, as a moderator variable) were measured using self-reported, validated measures.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regression analysis results showed that greater confidence using telehealth, performance expectancy (believing telehealth helps with daily tasks), social influence (important others encouraging telehealth use), and facilitating conditions (having resources for telehealth use) were associated with higher intentions to use teledelivered SCC (range: β=0.16, P=.03 to β=0.34, P<.001). Moreover, 2-way interactions emerged between education level and 2 of the telehealth perception variables. Education level moderated the associations between (1) performance expectancy and intention to use teledelivered complementary care (β=0.34, P=.04) and (2) facilitating conditions and intention to use teledelivered peer support groups (β=0.36, P=.03). The positive associations between those telehealth perceptions and intentions were only significant among those with a higher education level.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study implied that enhancing BCS' skills at using telehealth, BCS' and their important others' perceived benefits of telehealth, and providing assistance for telehealth use could increase BCS' intentions to use teledelivered SCC. For intentions to use specific types of SCC, addressing relevant factors (performance expectancy, facilitating conditions) might be particularly beneficial for those with a higher education level.

Development of Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer Using a Patient Support Smartphone App: Prepost Interventional Study

BACKGROUND

Adolescents and young adults often experience existential concerns in addition to side effects during a cancer trajectory, which they often carry alone. Thus, cohesion with other adolescents and young adults with cancer is essential but difficult due to the relatively small, widely dispersed nationwide population. In cocreation, a smartphone app has been developed and includes an information bank, a symptom tracker, and a social community platform, aiming to improve the quality of life (QoL) in this patient group.

OBJECTIVE

This nationwide, multicenter study aimed to investigate the QoL in adolescents and young adults undergoing a cancer trajectory as they used the app for 6 weeks.

METHODS

Via youth support initiatives, participants were recruited from hospitals in all regions of Denmark. Inclusion criteria were patients with cancer aged 15-29 years who either initiated any cancer treatment or started follow-up after cancer treatment within 30 days. Participants used the adolescents and young adults cancer app for 6 weeks. Before and after the 6 weeks of app use, they completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). The participants were divided into a treatment and a follow-up group for analysis. A high score for a functional scale or the global health or overall QoL represents a high or healthy level of functioning or high QoL, respectively; however, a high score for a symptom scale or item represents a high level of symptomatology.

RESULTS

Overall, 81 participants were recruited. However, 4 participants did not answer the questionnaire and 6 participants did not use the app. In the treatment group (n=36), significant improvement was found in 2 domains: "Role functioning" (baseline median 33.33, IQR 16.67-83.33 vs 6 weeks median 66.67, IQR 33.33-83.33; P=.04) and "Pain" (baseline median 33.33, IQR 16.67-50.00 vs 6 weeks median 16.67, IQR 0.00-33.33; P=.04). The "Global health/Overall QoL" scale remained stable (baseline median 58.33, IQR 45.83-77.08 vs 6 weeks median 62.50, IQR 41.67-75.00; P=.25). In the follow-up group (n=35), significant improvement was found in 3 domains: "Physical functioning" (baseline median 79.23, IQR 73.33-93.33 vs 6 weeks median 82.86, IQR 73.33-100.00; P=.03), "Cognitive functioning" (baseline median 62.38, IQR 50.00-83.33 vs 6 weeks median 69.52, IQR 50.00-100.00; P=.02), and "Social functioning" (baseline median 76.19, IQR 50.00-100.00 vs 6 weeks median 85.71, IQR 83.33-100.00; P=.05), as well as in the "Global health/Overall QoL" scale (baseline median 57.14, IQR 83.33-100.00 vs 6 weeks median 75.0, IQR 62.91-85.73; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we found an improvement in specific QoL scales for both participants in treatment and follow-up when using the app for 6 weeks. The global health or overall QoL score improved significantly in the follow-up group. In the treatment group, it remained stable.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

RR2-10.2196/10098.

Perspectives and Experiences of Patients With Thyroid Cancer at a Global Level: Retrospective Descriptive Study of Twitter Data

BACKGROUND

Twitter has become a popular platform for individuals to broadcast their daily experiences and opinions on a wide range of topics and emotions. Tweets from patients with cancer could offer insights into their needs. However, limited research has been conducted using Twitter data to understand the needs of patients with cancer despite the substantial amount of health-related data posted on the platform daily.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to uncover the potential of using Twitter data to understand the perspectives and experiences of patients with thyroid cancer at a global level.

METHODS

 This retrospective descriptive study collected tweets relevant to thyroid cancer in 2020 using the Twitter scraping tool. Only English-language tweets were included, and data preprocessing was performed to remove irrelevant tweets, duplicates, and retweets. Both tweets and Twitter users were manually classified into various groups based on the content. Each tweet underwent sentiment analysis and was classified as either positive, neutral, or negative.

RESULTS

A total of 13,135 tweets related to thyroid cancer were analyzed. The authors of the tweets included patients with thyroid cancer (3225 tweets, 24.6%), patient's families and friends (2449 tweets, 18.6%), medical journals and media (1733 tweets, 13.2%), health care professionals (1093 tweets, 8.3%), and medical health organizations (940 tweets, 7.2%), respectively. The most discussed topics related to living with cancer (3650 tweets, 27.8%), treatment (2891 tweets, 22%), diagnosis (1613 tweets, 12.3%), risk factors and prevention (1137 tweets, 8.7%), and research (953 tweets, 7.3%). An average of 36 tweets pertaining to thyroid cancer were posted daily. Notably, the release of a film addressing thyroid cancer and the public disclosure of a news reporter's personal diagnosis of thyroid cancer resulted in a significant escalation in the volume of tweets. From the sentiment analysis, 53.5% (7025/13,135) of tweets were classified as neutral statements and 32.7% (4299/13,135) of tweets expressed negative emotions. Tweets from patients with thyroid cancer had the highest proportion of negative emotion (1385/3225 tweets, 42.9%), particularly when discussing symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

 This study provides new insights on using Twitter data as a valuable data source to understand the experiences of patients with thyroid cancer. Twitter may provide an opportunity to improve patient and physician engagement or apply as a potential research data source.