Exploring Strategies for Using Social Media to Self-Manage Health Care When Living With and Beyond Breast Cancer: In-Depth Qualitative Study

Cathy Ure · Anna Mary Cooper-Ryan · Jenna Condie · Adam J. Galpin

27 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Medical Internet Research

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Social Media in Health Education Cancer survivorship and care Health Literacy and Information Accessibility

Abstract

BACKGROUND: As breast cancer survival rates improve and structural health resources are increasingly being stretched, health providers require people living with and beyond breast cancer (LwBBC) to self-manage aspects of their care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore how women use and experience social media to self-manage their psychosocial needs and support self-management across the breast cancer continuum. METHODS: The experiences of 21 women (age range 27-64 years) were explored using an in-depth qualitative approach. The women varied in the duration of their experiences of LwBBC, which facilitated insights into how they evolve and change their self-management strategies over time. Semistructured interviews were analyzed inductively using a thematic analysis, a polytextual analysis, and voice-centered relational methods. RESULTS: The use of multiple social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter, enabled women to self-manage aspects of their care by satisfying needs for timely, relevant, and appropriate support, by navigating identities disrupted by diagnosis and treatment and by allowing them to (re)gain a sense of control. Women described extending their everyday use of multiple platforms to self-manage their care. However, women experienced social media as both empowering and dislocating, as their engagement was impacted by their everyday experiences of LwBBC. CONCLUSIONS: Health care professionals (HCPs) need to be more aware, and open to the possibilities, of women using multiple social media resources as self-management tools. It is important for HCPs to initiate value-free discussions and create the space necessary for women to share how social media resources support a tailored and timely self-managed approach to their unique psychosocial needs.

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References

2006Using thematic analysis in psychology 2019Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis 2009Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media 2015Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies 2011The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research 1 2019To saturate or not to saturate? Questioning data saturation as a useful concept for thematic analysis and sample-size rationales 2013A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication 2017Do Social Network Sites Enhance or Undermine Subjective Well‐Being? A Critical Review

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2023The Role of Social Media in Breast Cancer Care and Survivorship: A Narrative Review 2021WhatsApp Messenger use in oncology: a narrative review on pros and contras of a flexible and practical, non-specific communication tool

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