Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Dec 13, 2019
Date Accepted: Apr 3, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Effects of a WhatsApp-Delivered Education Intervention to Enhance Breast Cancer-Knowledge In Women: Mixed-Methods Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the female population. Health education interventions based on the use of mobile technologies enable the development of women's health self-care skills emerging as an alternative strategy to be applied in the control of this type of cancer. WhatsApp stands out in studies as a useful tool in health education strategies but not yet applied for breast cancer education purposes.
Objective:
This study aimed to analyze the potential of WhatsApp as a health education tool to be used to improve women's knowledge about breast cancer prevention. It also aimed to understand how women are sensitized within the WhatsApp group throughout the intervention and how they incorporate information posted to improve knowledge about early detection and prevention methods.
Methods:
A pre-post health educational intervention with 35 women (aged 45-69 years) included in a WhatsApp group to share information (audio, video, text and images) over 3 weeks on early detection and prevention of breast cancer. Data collection was performed through questionnaires on topics related to breast cancer prevention as well as qualitative content analysis of group interactions. The effectiveness and feasibility of the intervention were analyzed the conversation and by comparing the scores obtained in the questionnaires before and after the intervention.
Results:
A total of 293 messages were exchanged (moderator = 120 / users = 173). The average score of the participants were 11,21 and 13,68 points, before and after the educational intervention, respectively, with sufficient sample evidence that such difference is significant (p < .001). The intervention enabled women to improve their knowledge in all topics addressed, especially in “myths and truths”, “incidence” and “clinical manifestations” and “protective factors”. From the interaction in the group, some themes emerged: group dynamic; general doubts; personal narratives; religious messages; daily news and events.
Conclusions:
The use of groups in WhatsApp for health education purposes for women seems to be a viable alternative to be applied in breast cancer control strategies especially as it provides a space for the exchange of experiences and disinhibition. However, the need for a moderator to answer the questions and the constant loss of focus of discussions by the members represent important limitations that should be considered in improving this strategy
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