Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 31, 2020
Date Accepted: Jun 21, 2021
Social media and mobile health technology for cancer screening: A systematic review and meta-analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer is a leading cause of death and while screening can reduce cancer morbidity and mortality, screening participation remains suboptimal.
Objective:
The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of social media and mHealth interventions for cancer screening.
Methods:
We searched for randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies of social media/mHealth interventions promoting cancer screening (breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate) in adults in Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Communication & Mass Media Complete from January 1, 2000 to July 17, 2020. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full-text articles and completed risk of bias assessments. We pooled odds ratios for screening participation using the Mantel-Haenszel method in a random-effects model.
Results:
We screened 18,008 records identifying 39 studies (35 mHealth and 4 social media). The type of interventions included peer support (n=1), education/awareness (n=6), reminders (n=13), or mixed (n=19). The overall pooled odds ratio was 1.49 (1.31–1.70) with effect sizes similar across cancer types.
Conclusions:
Screening programs should consider mHealth interventions given their promising role in promoting cancer screening participation. Further research is needed for social media interventions given the limited number of studies identified.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
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