Investigation of the Causes of Social Media Use in Cancer Patients

Background: Patient‘s response to chronic diseases has great importance nowadays. Recent studies have shown that disease-fighting is dependent on one s perception of complications of disease and the social conditions that the patients experienced there. New technology in the form of Internet has effect on health environment. Patients increasingly use the Internet as a source of information and also use it for psychological support. Widespread and perfect access to adequate medical care for people with cancer will be one of the pressing health policy maker tasks in the near future. Objectives: Online-based health services have potential to address psychological assistance and social support for patients. The purpose of this study was to declare why and how cancer patients use social media. Patients and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 1395 in Iran. We used qualitative interviews for collecting information. The purpose of Qualitative interviews was to explore the viewpoint experiences, beliefs and motivations of individuals on specific matters and to provide a deeper understanding of social phenomena. Participants were selected by purposive sampling, which continued until data saturation. A total of 11 interviews were performed. Data were analyzed according to conventional content analysis approach. Results: The findings of this study suggested that the reasons such as being anonymous, social support, information gathering about the disease and treatment and being aware of other patients experiences are most inclined to use social network like Instagram via cancer patients. The patients described that Instagram`s interactive environment and ease of use of this tool, are the most important advantage compared to other social networks. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that according to ease of use of social networks by the general population as well as the tendency of cancer patients using these tools, the Health-oriented organizations should have special attention to the potential capacity of these tools. It is also highly expected that patients using social networking sites face irrelevant, incomplete and inaccurate information and scam ads on the Internet. This misuse of medical resources, cause unnecessary treatments or self-management, which lead to complications and hazards for them and increase health care costs. This process should be considered by health policy makers.