Online Discussions on Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine among Patients with Cancer: A Data-Mining Study of Health Forums and Social Media
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AbstractIntroduction:
Patients with cancer increasingly use forums and social media platforms to access health information and share their experiences, particularly in the use of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM). This study leveraged multiple forums and social media platforms to explore patients’ use, interest, and perception regarding TCIM for cancer care.
Methods:
Posts (in English) related to TCIM were collected from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and 16 other health forums from their inception till February 2022. Both manual assessment and natural language processing were used. Descriptive analyses were performed to explore the most commonly discussed TCIM modalities. Themes were identified from posts of positive and negative sentiments. TCIM modalities that are emerging or have been recommended in guidelines were identified a priori. Exploratory topic-modeling analyses were conducted to investigate patients’ perceptions of these modalities.
Results:
In the 1,620,755 posts available, pain, anxiety/depression, and insomnia were commonly discussed. Cannabis was among the most commonly discussed modalities for treating pain, nausea/vomiting, and insomnia. Seven positive and seven negative themes were identified. The positive themes included TCIM making symptoms manageable and reducing the need for medication, and the belief that TCIM and conventional treatments are not mutually exclusive. Conversely, TCIM was viewed as leading to the patients’ refusal of conventional treatments or delays in diagnosis and treatment. Exploratory analyses showed that TCIM recommendations were well discussed among patients, but these modalities were also used for many other indications. Other notable topics included concerns about the legalization of cannabis; techniques for acupressure; and positive experiences of meditation.
Conclusions:
By using machine-learning techniques, social media and health forums provide a valuable resource for patient-generated data regarding the pattern of use and patients’ perceptions of TCIM. Such information will help clarify patients’ needs and concerns, and provide directions for research on integrating TCIM into cancer care.
Patients with cancer increasingly use forums and social media platforms to access health information and share their experiences, particularly in the use of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM). This study leveraged multiple forums and social media platforms to explore patients’ use, interest, and perception regarding TCIM for cancer care.
Methods:
Posts (in English) related to TCIM were collected from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and 16 other health forums from their inception till February 2022. Both manual assessment and natural language processing were used. Descriptive analyses were performed to explore the most commonly discussed TCIM modalities. Themes were identified from posts of positive and negative sentiments. TCIM modalities that are emerging or have been recommended in guidelines were identified a priori. Exploratory topic-modeling analyses were conducted to investigate patients’ perceptions of these modalities.
Results:
In the 1,620,755 posts available, pain, anxiety/depression, and insomnia were commonly discussed. Cannabis was among the most commonly discussed modalities for treating pain, nausea/vomiting, and insomnia. Seven positive and seven negative themes were identified. The positive themes included TCIM making symptoms manageable and reducing the need for medication, and the belief that TCIM and conventional treatments are not mutually exclusive. Conversely, TCIM was viewed as leading to the patients’ refusal of conventional treatments or delays in diagnosis and treatment. Exploratory analyses showed that TCIM recommendations were well discussed among patients, but these modalities were also used for many other indications. Other notable topics included concerns about the legalization of cannabis; techniques for acupressure; and positive experiences of meditation.
Conclusions:
By using machine-learning techniques, social media and health forums provide a valuable resource for patient-generated data regarding the pattern of use and patients’ perceptions of TCIM. Such information will help clarify patients’ needs and concerns, and provide directions for research on integrating TCIM into cancer care.
All Author(s) ListChun Sing Lam, Keary Zhou, Herbert Ho-Fung Loong, Vincent Chi-Ho Chung, Chun-Kit Ngan, Yin Ting Cheung
Name of ConferenceMultinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC)/ JapaneseAssociation of Supportive Care in Cancer (JASCC)/ International Society of Oral Oncology (ISOO) AnnualMeeting 2023
Start Date of Conference22/06/2023
End Date of Conference24/06/2023
Place of ConferenceNara
Country/Region of ConferenceJapan
Proceedings TitleJournal of Supportive Care in Cancer
Year2023
Month6
Day17
Volume Number31
PublisherSpringer
Pages262 - 262
LanguagesEnglish-United States
KeywordsTCIM, cancer, cancer care, complementary, forums, digital health, integrative, machine learning, perceptions, social media, traditional, traditional, complementary, integrative medicine
