Trial reportJournal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs2013
The effects of expression: how providing emotional support online improves cancer patients' coping strategies.
Trial report in Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Behavioural interventions delivered through interactive social media for health behaviour change, health outcomes, and health equity in the adult population.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Behavior Change Techniques Included in Reports of Social Media Interventions for Promoting Health Behaviors in Adults: Content Analysis Within a Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- How Cancer Online Support Groups Work, for Whom, and in What Circumstances: Realist Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Review
- With a little help from my friends: Social support, hope and climate change engagement.The British journal of social psychology · 2025Article
- mHealth Engagement for Antiretroviral Medication Adherence Among People With HIV and Substance Use Disorders: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
- Digital Care Horizon: A Framework for Extending Health Care Through Digital Transformation.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2023Article
- Using Machine Learning of Online Expression to Explain Recovery Trajectories: Content Analytic Approach to Studying a Substance Use Disorder Forum.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Intraindividual, Dyadic, and Network Communication in a Digital Health Intervention: Distinguishing Message Exposure from Message Production.Health communication · 2022Article
- Do Informational and Emotional Elements Differ between Online Psychological and Physiological Disease Communities in China? A Comparative Study of Depression and Diabetes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Patterns of social media use and associations with psychosocial outcomes among breast and gynecologic cancer survivors.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2021Article
- Giving and receiving social support in online substance use disorder forums: How self-efficacy moderates effects on relapse.Patient education and counseling · 2020Article
- Review
- Social media for breast cancer survivors: a literature review.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2017Review
- Online cancer communities as informatics intervention for social support: conceptualization, characterization, and impact.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2017Article
- Social Media and Mobile Technology for Cancer Prevention and Treatment.American Society of Clinical Oncology educational book. American Society of Clinical Oncology. Annual Meeting · 2017Review
- Expression and Reception: An Analytic Method for Assessing Message Production and Consumption in CMC.Communication methods and measures · 2017Article
- How social media influence college students' smoking attitudes and intentions.Computers in human behavior · 2016Article
- The effects of SNS communication: How expressing and receiving information predict MERS-preventive behavioral intentions in South Korea.Computers in human behavior · 2016Article
- Article
- Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEmotional support has traditionally been conceived as something a breast cancer patient receives. However, this framework may obscure a more complex process, facilitated by the emerging social media environment, which includes the effects of composing and sending messages to others. Accordingly, this study explores the effects of expression and reception of emotional support messages in online groups and the importance of bonding as a mediator influencing the coping strategies of breast cancer patients.
methodsData were collected as part of two National Cancer Institute-funded randomized clinical trials. Eligible subjects were within 2 months of diagnosis of primary breast cancer or recurrence. Expression and reception of emotionally supportive messages were tracked and coded for 237 breast cancer patients. Analysis resulted from merging 1) computer-aided content analysis of discussion posts, 2) action log analysis of system use, and 3) longitudinal survey data.
resultsAs expected, perceived bonding was positively related to all four coping strategies (active coping: β = 0.251, P = .000; positive reframing: β = 0.288, P = .000; planning: β = 0.213, P = .006; humor: β = 0.159, P = .009). More importantly, expression (γ = 0.138, P = .027), but not reception (γ = -0.018, P = .741), of emotional support increases perceived bonding, which in turn mediates the effects on patients' positive coping strategies.
conclusionsThere is increasing importance for scholars to distinguish the effects of expression from reception to understand the processes involved in producing psychosocial benefits. This study shows that emotional support is more than something cancer patients receive; it is part of an active, complex process that can be facilitated by social media.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.