JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Most of what is known regarding cancer information engagement on social media stems from quantitative methodologies. Public health literature often quantifies engagement by measuring likes, comments and/or shares of posts within cancer organizations’ Facebook Pages. Yet, this content may not represent the cancer information generally available to and consumed by platform users. Furthermore, some individuals may prefer to engage with information without leaving digital traces researchers can quantify. Mixed methods approaches may provide a way to surpass the constraints of assessing engagement with CPSI in the general Facebook environment by only using currently available social media metrics.

Objective:

This article discusses the limitations of current approaches to assess cancer information engagement on Facebook and presents the social media content and context (SoCo) elicitation method, a qualitatively-driven mixed methods approach to understanding engagement with health information, and how engagement may lead to subsequent actions.

Methods:

Data collection, management and analysis using the SoCo elicitation method are presented. This method was developed for a study exploring how and why U.S. Latinos engage with cancer prevention and screening information on Facebook. Twenty self-identified Latino/Hispanics ages 40-75 with no history of cancer participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews to discuss their Facebook utilization and engagement with cancer information on the platform. Participants accessed their Facebook account alongside the researcher, typed “cancer” in the search bar, and discussed cancer-related posts they engaged with during the previous 6-12 months. Engagement was defined as liking, commenting and/or sharing a post; clicking on a post link; reading an article in a post; and/or watching a video within a post. Content engagement prompted questions regarding the reasons for engagement, and whether engagement triggered further action. Data was managed using MaxQDA and analyzed via thematic analysis and content analysis.

Results:

Data emerging from the SoCo elicitation method demonstrated that most participants engaged with CPSI by viewing and/or reading content (73%, n=48) without liking, commenting, and/or sharing it. This method provided rich content regarding how Latinos engage with and act upon CPSI on Facebook. Two case studies are presented to exemplify the additional information elicited from this methodology that is currently lacking from other approaches.

Conclusions:

The SoCo elicitation method allows for a better representation and deeper contextualization of how persons engage with and act upon health information encountered on social media. This method may be applied to future studies regarding how to best communicate health information on social media, including how these impact assessments of message credibility and accuracy that can influence health outcomes.