Living with and beyond breast cancer: Exploring women’s use of social media to support psychosocial health

This research explored how women use and experience social media to support their psychosocial needs across the breast cancer continuum. The study identified that social media use is integral to many women’s daily lives and considered an appropriate space to explore experiences of living with and beyond breast cancer. Use of multiple social media platforms, often concurrently, 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. This work is being developed into a cross institutional bid application exploring patient benefit of social media use across all cancers.

For further information, see:  Ure C, Cooper-Ryan AM, Condie J, Galpin A. Exploring Strategies for Using Social Media to Self-Manage Health Care When Living With and Beyond Breast Cancer: In-Depth Qualitative Study J Med Internet Res 2020;22(5):e16902 DOI: 10.2196/16902 PMID: 32364510

Team: Cathy Ure, Anna Cooper-Ryan, Adam Galpin