JAMA Network Open: Social Media Recruiting Cancer Patients? Perhaps it's too early

According to a study published online December 28, 2020 in JAMA Network Open (IF:5.03), researchers on most cancer clinical trial teams largely believe that social media can be a boon to patient recruitment, but at the same time, people don't fully believe in the process.
the study was conducted among 92 respondents to a study funded by the Southwestern Cancer Collaboration (SWOG) Cancer Research Network.
social media is defined as the form of electronic communications, such as social networks and blog sites through which users can share information, ideas and other content, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more.
believe that social media can help patients raise awareness of clinical trials (86 percent), deepen understanding (82 percent) and broaden access to access (75 percent).
Chart: While researchers believe that the benefits and limitations of social media recruitment (a indicate statistically significant differences), many clinicians and researchers are concerned that the spread of false, incorrect or incomplete information on social media platforms may lead to associated risks (60 percent) or even misconceptions about the trial (58 percent).
more than half (59 per cent) of respondents said they felt they needed professional training to review such patient recruitment.
notable is that only 20 of the 92 respondents responded used social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Doximity and YouTube to recruit patients.
analysis of researchers using social media for cancer recruitment found that participants were younger (45 years of age or younger, 40 percent vs. 21 percent) and could allocate more than 30 percent of their working time to focus on research (80 percent vs. 57 percent).
compared to participants, bystanders were more concerned about misrepresentation (68 percent vs. 30 percent), misunderstandings (67 percent vs. 25 percent), unresoled conflicts of interest (44 percent vs. 15 percent), and violations of patient privacy (38 percent vs. 5 percent).
, Sedrak, the study's lead author, said some patients are well placed to learn about the experiment and interact with researchers through social media.
, many patients have a deep understanding of the disease and the overall treatment prospects, and their social media activity makes the discussion of cancer clinical trials easier.
we need to do more research to understand how to communicate effectively with these growing online patient communities and build and maintain trusted partnerships with patients throughout the research process.
, as early as 2013, SWOG set up a working group aimed at using twitter-dominated social media (@SWOG,#SWOGOnc) to speed up the recruitment process for clinical trials.
, the Conversion Registration Research Metastasis Breast Cancer (MBC) project is a compelling success story.
in just seven months between 2015 and 2016, researchers recruited more than 2,000 patients from all 50 states and collected biological samples and medical records.
experts commented that it was "incredibly fast to get into the group" thanks to the effects of social media promotion.
other ongoing ongoing cancer registration programs, including the metastatic prostate cancer program and the hemanosarcoma program, managed by the Dana Faber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and the Broad Institute in Boston, are also using social media to recruit patients.
, however, there are expert tips that best practices for pilot registration are still under study.
social media is still an emerging technology and platform, despite its long-term use.
of registered studies such as the MPC program may not apply to cancer therapeutic clinical trials that cover efficacy, adverse events, randomization, and other issues.
is well known that cancer treatment trials have problems attracting subjects, with most patients limited by structural problems and clinical barriers.
Sedrak said: "Of all cancer patients, 56 per cent did not have locally accessible trials, while 21 per cent of the remaining patients were not eligible to participate.
, more than 2.9 billion people around the world regularly use social media platforms, and their participation creates the potential to spread health messages at unprecedented speed, coverage and penetration, writes the article.
if researchers' resistance is overcome, social media could become an important tool for promoting clinical trial recruitment.