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Relative frequency of breast cancer website information topics: Environmental risk, prevention, detection, treatment, awareness, social support, & survivorship. Rose Clark-Hitt 1 Marleah Dean 2 Sandi W. Smith 1 Samantha Nazione 1 Charles Atkin 1 Pamela Whitten 1
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Relative frequency of breast cancer website information topics: Environmental risk, prevention, detection, treatment, awareness, social support, & survivorship Rose Clark-Hitt1 Marleah Dean2 Sandi W. Smith1 Samantha Nazione1 Charles Atkin1 Pamela Whitten1 1 Michigan State University, 2 University of New Mexico
Background: Breast Cancer Prevalence & Health Information on Internet Breast Cancer Prevalence • New cases diagnosed per year (over 250,000) • Deaths each year from breast cancer (over 40,000) Internet and Health • Over 80% of Americans report using the internet to visit health websites (Fox, 2006) • 41% of BC patients use internet for information (Fogel, 2002)
Background: Prior Content Analysis Research Breast cancer news media content analyses • Newspapers • TV news Breast cancer website content analysis • Content & website quality
Background: Purpose of Present Content Analysis • Goal to provide comprehensive review of breast cancer information on the web, extending prior content analyses • Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center grant • Goal to learn about environmental factors that may increase risks for breast cancer and to communicate to public
Background • Examined following categories of content: • Awareness • Environmental risks • Prevention • Detection • Treatment • Social Support • Survivorship
Method • Sample • Google, Yahoo, & MSN • Unit of analysis • Individual web page • N= 415 • Ordinal coding • Main focus of web page (3) • Secondary focus of web page(2) • Mention only on web page(1) • Absent on web page (0) • 2 coders established reliability
Results Awareness Environmental Risks • Most common awareness topic was information about breast cancer such as types and stages (about 39%) • About 4% of pages had prevalence in terms of number of cases • The most prevalent topic with a major emphasis was exposure to chemicals (5%) • For minor content, greatest number of web pages mentioned avoiding unhealthy diet (10.7%) and the role of hormones (10.5%).
Results Prevention Detection • Very little content on parental prevention behaviors to help daughters (1.2% had minor emphasis) • About 10% had minor emphasis and 5% major emphasis on individual prevention • About a third contained information about symptoms • Mammograms appeared in about 16% • BSE, X-ray, and MRI in about 5%
Results Treatment Survivorship & Social Support • Chemotherapy most common treatment topic (33%), followed by surgical procedures (23%), radiation (20%), and holistic medicine (5%) • Survivorship most common content related to side effects of treatment (about 5%) • For social support, the most common content was network support (about 13%)
Implications & Conclusions • Most common topics: treatment & prevention • Prevention: similar findings with prior work showing most prevention messages are directed at self, not helping others prevent breast cancer • Little coverage of parental prevention • Environmental risks: hormones, avoiding particular chemicals, foods • Limitations: small sample of availability on internet; search terms, & patterns of use
Implications & Conclusions • Provides insight on content women are exposed to when searching popular websites • May provide insight for website design to better serve women • Future directions • Agenda setting and how content on web pages influences perceptions of what topics are important regarding breast cancer