Social media use among NCI designated cancer centers: Where is the diversity?

Abstract

11003 Background: The NCI-Designated Cancer Centers (NCC) are recognized for their leadership, research, and education of health care professionals (HCP). NCC are required to study and improve cancer disparities in their communities. Since the introduction of social media (SM), online platforms have become a source of health information and peer support among patients with cancer, leading to its adoption by NCC across the nation. We aimed to analyze the use of SM among NCC and how the racial/ethnic (RE) diversity represented in their SM messaging compares to their communities. Methods: We reviewed all original SM posts from adult NCC-specific Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TW) pages between 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019. Basic laboratory NCC pages and retweets were excluded. A 1-year time period was selected to account for variation during health campaigns months. We analyzed each post’s language and content, and the gender and RE of individuals presented in images and videos (IV). Content was categorized into: screening, clinical trials, HCP, or patient story. Data was analyzed using chi-square and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results: We reviewed the FB and TW pages of 56 NCC. The median account age was 10 years for FB and 9 years for TW with a median number of followers of 9,861 and 6,066, respectively. The median number of posts per NCC was 250 in FB and 332 in TW. Only 5 NCC posted in a non-English language (range 1 – 5 posts). Among SM IV, >60% of pages displayed females in ≥50% of their posts, African Americans (AA) were presented in 12-14% and Hispanics in 5%. When compared to their city demographics, Whites and Asians were significantly over-represented while Hispanics and AA were under-represented in NCC’s SM messaging (Table). When compared to the US census, over-representation of Asians and under-representation of Hispanics persisted. Cities with ≥20% AA or Hispanics displayed a higher proportion of IV presenting the respective RE group (p<0.05). Content was not associated with RE makeup. Conclusions: By analyzing the IV posted by NCC on 2 SM platforms, we identified that Hispanics and AA were under-represented in NCC’s SM messaging. Furthermore, SM outreach for non-English speakers was abysmal. Equitable visual representation of diverse RE in NCC’s SM messaging has the potential to serve as a tangible means to demonstrate cultural competency and close the gap in cancer disparities. [Table: see text]