Abstract
BackgroundWeb-based social support can address social isolation and unmet support needs among young adults with cancer (aged 18-39 years). Given that 94% of young adults own and use smartphones, social media can offer personalized, accessible social support among peers with cancer.ObjectiveThis study aims to examine the specific benefits, downsides, and topics of social support via social media among young adults with cancer.MethodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with young adults with cancer, aged between 18 and 39 years, who were receiving treatment or had completed treatment for cancer.ResultsMost participants (N=45) used general audience platforms (eg, Facebook groups), and some cancer-specific social media (eg, Caring Bridge), to discuss relevant lived experiences for medical information (managing side effects and treatment uncertainty) and navigating life with cancer (parenting and financial issues). Participants valued socializing with other young adults with cancer, making connections outside their personal networks, and being able to validate their emotional and mental health experiences without time and physical constraints. However, using social media for peer support can be an emotional burden, especially when others post disheartening or harassing content, and can heighten privacy concerns, especially when navigating cancer-related stigma.ConclusionsSocial media allows young adults to connect with peers to share and feel validated about their treatment and life concerns. However, barriers exist for receiving support from social media; these could be reduced through content moderation and developing more customizable, potentially cancer-specific social media apps and platforms to enhance one’s ability to find peers and manage groups.
Highlights
Social media has the potential to provide critical social support for young adults with cancer [1,2]
Young adults with cancer struggle to find peers with their diagnoses and are often affected by social isolation, which is compounded by debilitating life disruptions such as extended absences from school and work [3,4,6,7]
Twitter use was organically mentioned by just over a tenth of young adults, and a few shared about using Snapchat, TikTok, or YouTube to seek out cancer stories
Summary
Social media has the potential to provide critical social support for young adults with cancer [1,2]. Cancer has unique psychosocial impacts on young adults (aged 18-39 years), with unmet social support needs being a challenge for many [3,4,5]. Young adults with cancer consistently express the need to connect with peers to feel less alone in their unique challenges, hear from others’ experiences for what to expect, and maintain or form their identity [3,14,21]—the need for support is potentially alleviated through synchronous or asynchronous social media connections among youth [17,22,23]. Web-based social support can address social isolation and unmet support needs among young adults with cancer (aged 18-39 years). Barriers exist for receiving support from social media; these could be reduced through content moderation and developing more customizable, potentially cancer-specific social media apps and platforms to enhance one’s ability to find peers and manage groups
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