Jackie Bender*, ELLICSR Health Wellness and Cancer Surviovrship Centre and Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada Haiyan Jiang, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada Track: Research Presentation Topic: Building virtual communities and social networking applications for patients and consumers Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Last modified: 2013-09-25

If you are the presenter of this abstract (or if you cite this abstract in a talk or on a poster), please show the QR code in your slide or poster (QR code contains this URL).

Background: Online health communities have been shown to provide numerous benefits; however, little is known about the proportion of patients who use online communities as a health resource. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of online community use among cancer survivors.

Methods: Testicular, thyroid and breast cancer patients in follow-up at an urban cancer centre were invited to complete a questionnaire examining health-related Internet and social media use. This study represents the combined analysis of three datasets collected in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively. We examined the relationship between patients’ sociodemographic and disease characteristics, met and unmet supportive care needs, and their cancer-related online community use. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed using forward selection to assess the relative importance of the variables that correlated significantly (p<0.05) with online community use.

Results: A total of 552 questionnaires were completed (combined response rate 75%). Respondents had a mean age of 48.14 years (SD 16.2), and were a median of 2.67 years post diagnosis (IQR 3.64). A total of 24% (n=130) reported having used an online community for disease support. Significantly more testicular (26%) and thyroid (26.6%) cancer patients reported using online communities than breast cancer patients (17%). Younger age, higher education, English as a first language, and greater unmet needs were significantly associated with online community use. In multivariable analysis, only age, English as a first language and unmet needs significantly predicted online community use. Reasons for not using online communities were lack of perceived need (54.1%), lack of awareness (46%), lack of comfort using computers (12.1%), and lack of trust in information on the Internet (10.5%).

Conclusions: Cancer survivors who are younger, who speak English as a first language, and who have more unmet needs are more likely to use online communities as a health resource. Technical barriers do not appear to be the main reasons for not using online communities as a health resource. Research is needed to determine whether and to what extent online communities could address cancer survivors unmet needs and optimize health service use.