How TikTok is Being Used to Help Individuals Cope with Breast Cancer: A Content Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Acknowledging the popularity of TikTok, how quickly medical information can spread, and how users seek support on social media, there is a clear lack of research on breast cancer conversations on TikTok.
Objective:
The purpose of this cross-sectional content analysis was to describe the content of videos from the hashtag #breastcancer on TikTok.
Methods:
This study included 100 TikTok videos related to breast cancer. At the start of the study, the hashtag was the most popular, with 1.1 billion views. Videos were excluded if they were not in the English language or relevant to the topic being studied. Data was collected by watching and analyzing the videos for mention or suggestion of predetermined content categories.
Results:
The cumulative number of views of videos included in this study was 369, 504, 590. On average, videos had approximately 3.7 million views [SD 3,581,698] each, had 401,877 [SD 389,702] likes, and were shared more than 5,000 times. Patients and loved ones of individuals with breast cancer created the greatest number of videos (81.0%). The most commonly discussed topic was breast cancer support (88.0%), followed by coping with the myriad issues surrounding breast cancer (79.0%). Videos that were related to breast cancer advocacy (n = 62, 62.0%) differed from those that did not (n = 32, 32.0%) by both characteristics and content. Videos advocating for breast cancer received substantially more likes (mean 489,669 vs. 258,637, p = 0.004) and more shares (mean 7,396 vs. 1,290, p = 0.002) (Table 1). Advocating videos also more often discussed body image (64.5% vs. 22.1%, p><0.001), stigma associated with breast cancer (53.2% vs. 28.9%, p = 0.018), and breast cancer surgery (58.1% vs. 26.3%, p = 0.002) compared to videos that did not specifically advocate for breast cancer.
Conclusions:
The use of videos to display health journeys can create communities amongst patients, family members and loved ones facing similar challenges in their life. Collectively these findings highlight the level of peer-to-peer involvement on TikTok.
Citation
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Copyright
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