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Twitter Social Media is an Effective Tool for Breast Cancer Patient Education and Support: Patient-Reported Outcomes by Survey

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Medical Internet Research, July 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (95th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
5 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
twitter
393 X users
facebook
19 Facebook pages
googleplus
7 Google+ users

Citations

dimensions_citation
311 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
392 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
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Title
Twitter Social Media is an Effective Tool for Breast Cancer Patient Education and Support: Patient-Reported Outcomes by Survey
Published in
Journal of Medical Internet Research, July 2015
DOI 10.2196/jmir.4721
Pubmed ID
Authors

Deanna J Attai, Michael S Cowher, Mohammed Al-Hamadani, Jody M Schoger, Alicia C Staley, Jeffrey Landercasper

Abstract

Despite reported benefits, many women do not attend breast cancer support groups. Abundant online resources for support exist, but information regarding the effectiveness of participation is lacking. We report the results of a Twitter breast cancer support community participant survey. The aim was to determine the effectiveness of social media as a tool for breast cancer patient education and decreasing anxiety. The Breast Cancer Social Media Twitter support community (#BCSM) began in July 2011. Institutional review board approval with a waiver of informed consent was obtained for a deidentified survey that was posted for 2 weeks on Twitter and on the #BCSM blog and Facebook page. There were 206 respondents to the survey. In all, 92.7% (191/206) were female. Respondents reported increased knowledge about breast cancer in the following domains: overall knowledge (80.9%, 153/189), survivorship (85.7%, 162/189), metastatic breast cancer (79.4%, 150/189), cancer types and biology (70.9%, 134/189), clinical trials and research (66.1%, 125/189), treatment options (55.6%, 105/189), breast imaging (56.6%, 107/189), genetic testing and risk assessment (53.9%, 102/189), and radiotherapy (43.4%, 82/189). Participation led 31.2% (59/189) to seek a second opinion or bring additional information to the attention of their treatment team and 71.9% (136/189) reported plans to increase their outreach and advocacy efforts as a result of participation. Levels of reported anxiety before and after participation were analyzed: 29 of 43 (67%) patients who initially reported "high or extreme" anxiety reported "low or no" anxiety after participation (P<.001). Also, no patients initially reporting low or no anxiety before participation reported an increase to high or extreme anxiety after participation. This study demonstrates that breast cancer patients' perceived knowledge increases and their anxiety decreases by participation in a Twitter social media support group.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 393 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 392 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 6 2%
Malaysia 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Unknown 384 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 54 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 51 13%
Researcher 45 11%
Student > Bachelor 32 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 28 7%
Other 84 21%
Unknown 98 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 79 20%
Social Sciences 39 10%
Nursing and Health Professions 32 8%
Psychology 27 7%
Computer Science 20 5%
Other 73 19%
Unknown 122 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 323. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 July 2022.
All research outputs
#104,243
of 25,448,590 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Medical Internet Research
#65
of 7,882 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,022
of 275,146 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Medical Internet Research
#3
of 70 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,448,590 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,882 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 19.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 275,146 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 70 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.