The Web-Based Randomized Controlled Intervention as the Enhancer of Cancer Prevention

Use a web-app to improve breast cancer risk factors and symptoms knowledge and adherence to healthy diet and physical activity in women without breast cancer diagnosis (Precam project)

PURPOSE

This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of an educational intervention using a web-app to improve knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and symptoms and adherence to healthy eating and physical activity among women without breast cancer diagnosis in Asturias (Spain).

METHODS

A pragmatic randomized pilot trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of a web-app-based intervention for women without breast cancer diagnosis. Women in the intervention group participated in a 6-month intervention web-app based on the Behaviour Change Wheel Model. The web-app includes information about breast cancer risk factors, early detection, physical activity and diet.

RESULTS

Two hundred and eighty-fifth women aged 25-50 were invited to join the study. Two hundred and twenty-four were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (IG = 134) or control group (CG = 90) according to their place of residence. Adherence among women in the IG increased significantly from pre- to post-intervention for eight of the 12 healthy behaviors and for the identification of six risk factors and six symptoms compared to women in the CG and, among whom adherence only increased for two behaviors, the identification of one risk factor and 0 symptoms. The intervention significantly improved the mean number of risk factors + 1.06 (p < 0.001) and symptoms + 1.18 (p < 0.001) identified by women in the IG.

CONCLUSIONS

The preliminary results of this study suggest that an educational intervention using a web-app and based on the Behaviour Change Wheel model could be useful to improve knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and symptoms and to improve adherence to a healthy diet and physical activity in women without a previous breast cancer diagnosis.

Social Media Use, eHealth Literacy, Disease Knowledge, and Preventive Behaviors in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study on Chinese Netizens

Background

Since its outbreak in January 2020, COVID-19 has quickly spread worldwide and has become a global pandemic. Social media platforms have been recognized as important tools for health-promoting practices in public health, and the use of social media is widespread among the public. However, little is known about the effects of social media use on health promotion during a pandemic such as COVID-19.

Objective

In this study, we aimed to explore the predictive role of social media use on public preventive behaviors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic and how disease knowledge and eHealth literacy moderated the relationship between social media use and preventive behaviors.

Methods

A national web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted by a proportionate probability sampling among 802 Chinese internet users (“netizens”) in February 2020. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical multiple regressions were employed to examine and explore the relationships among all the variables.

Results

Almost half the 802 study participants were male (416, 51.9%), and the average age of the participants was 32.65 years. Most of the 802 participants had high education levels (624, 77.7%), had high income >¥5000 (US $736.29) (525, 65.3%), were married (496, 61.8%), and were in good health (486, 60.6%). The average time of social media use was approximately 2 to 3 hours per day (mean 2.34 hours, SD 1.11), and the most frequently used media types were public social media (mean score 4.49/5, SD 0.78) and aggregated social media (mean score 4.07/5, SD 1.07). Social media use frequency (β=.20, P<.001) rather than time significantly predicted preventive behaviors for COVID-19. Respondents were also equipped with high levels of disease knowledge (mean score 8.15/10, SD 1.43) and eHealth literacy (mean score 3.79/5, SD 0.59). Disease knowledge (β=.11, P=.001) and eHealth literacy (β=.27, P<.001) were also significant predictors of preventive behaviors. Furthermore, eHealth literacy (P=.038) and disease knowledge (P=.03) positively moderated the relationship between social media use frequency and preventive behaviors, while eHealth literacy (β=.07) affected this relationship positively and disease knowledge (β=–.07) affected it negatively. Different social media types differed in predicting an individual’s preventive behaviors for COVID-19. Aggregated social media (β=.22, P<.001) was the best predictor, followed by public social media (β=.14, P<.001) and professional social media (β=.11, P=.002). However, official social media (β=.02, P=.597) was an insignificant predictor.

Conclusions

Social media is an effective tool to promote behaviors to prevent COVID-19 among the public. Health literacy is essential for promotion of individual health and influences the extent to which the public engages in preventive behaviors during a pandemic. Our results not only enrich the theoretical paradigm of public health management and health communication but also have practical implications in pandemic control for China and other countries.

Decreasing the Impact of Anxiety on Cancer Prevention through Online Intervention

Background: Low levels of public knowledge, incorrect beliefs, and anxiety are the most often mentioned factors that may negatively affect the implementation of preventive campaigns and timely diagnosis of cancer. Cancer is a major unresolved problem for global public health. As a result, many effective preventive measures need to be found and implemented. Methods: For a duration of 18 months, readers of the Polish scientific Internet portal were invited to participate in the Polish On-line Randomized Intervention aimed at Neoplasm Avoidance (PORINA) study. Level of cancer-related anxiety was our main measure (self-declared on a simple five-point Likert scale) in this analysis. Results: A total of 463 participants were qualified for the final analysis. Respondents with a positive family history of cancer (p < 0.001) declared the highest level of cancer-related anxiety, whereas lower levels were declared by those previously treated for cancer (p = 0.006). The conducted educational intervention reduced the declared level of cancer-related anxiety. Conclusions: The results of this study provide evidence that the use of web-based interventions aimed at increasing awareness could reduce cancer-related anxiety and may lead to more frequent consent to undergo some of the medical procedures used to diagnose or treat cancer.