ArticleJournal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education2018
Is Cancer Information Exchanged on Social Media Scientifically Accurate?
Article in Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 121 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quality of Cancer-Related Information on New Media (2014-2023): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- A Health Media Literacy Intervention Increases Skepticism of Both Inaccurate and Accurate Cancer News Among U.S. Adults.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2024Trial
- Informational needs in vulvar cancer and precursor conditions: a social listening study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Misinformation and Profitability of Hepatitis B Virus Claims on Instagram: Formative Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Quality and accuracy of complementary feeding information on Instagram: A cross-sectional content analysis study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Intervening and reducing sharing of false cancer treatments on social media: Online experiment.PloS one · 2026Article
- Conceptualization of Digital Platforms Within Cancer Communication: A Review of Barriers and Drivers of Online Tools to Empower Children and Adolescents with Cancer to Understand Their Disease.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Review
- Stress and Support Present in Medical Crowdfunding in Pediatric Cancer.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Public Trust in Different Sources of Information: Gaps in Rural Residents and Cancer Patients.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Social media "SoMe" in neuro-oncology: a review of the literature.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Review
- "Crying in the Wilderness"-The Use of Web-Based Support in Telomere Biology Disorders: Thematic Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Alternative Health and Conventional Medicine Discourse About Cancer on TikTok: Computer Vision Analysis of TikTok Videos.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Investigation and analysis of the status of cancer health popularization in China, 2023.World journal of clinical oncology · 2024Article
- Cancer-related Keywords in 2023: Insights from Text Mining of a Major Consumer Portal.Healthcare informatics research · 2024Article
- Communication in oncology between healthcare providers, patients, the scientific community, and the media: recommendations from the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM).Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Article
- Exposure and Reactions to Cancer Treatment Misinformation and Advice: Survey Study.JMIR cancer · 2023Article
- Experiences of peer support activities and the need for a metaverse-based program in young women with breast cancer: A qualitative study.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2023Article
- Childhood Cancer Information-Seeking: Findings from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2023Article
- Susceptibility to Breast Cancer Misinformation Among Chinese Patients: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cancer patients and their caregivers are increasingly using social media as a platform to share cancer experiences, connect with support, and exchange cancer-related information. Yet, little is known about the nature and scientific accuracy of cancer-related information exchanged on social media. We conducted a content analysis of 12 months of data from 18 publically available Facebook Pages hosted by parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (N = 15,852 posts) and extracted all exchanges of medically-oriented cancer information. We systematically coded for themes in the nature of cancer-related information exchanged on personal Facebook Pages and two oncology experts independently evaluated the scientific accuracy of each post. Of the 15,852 total posts, 171 posts contained medically-oriented cancer information. The most frequent type of cancer information exchanged was information related to treatment protocols and health services use (35%) followed by information related to side effects and late effects (26%), medication (16%), medical caregiving strategies (13%), alternative and complementary therapies (8%), and other (2%). Overall, 67% of all cancer information exchanged was deemed medically/scientifically accurate, 19% was not medically/scientifically accurate, and 14% described unproven treatment modalities. These findings highlight the potential utility of social media as a cancer-related resource, but also indicate that providers should focus on recommending reliable, evidence-based sources to patients and caregivers.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.