JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Young adults (ages 18-39) with cancer face unique risks for negative psychosocial outcomes. These risks could be lessened with positive psychology interventions adapted for social media, if deemed acceptable, by encouraging intentions to do the activities and positive message reactions, and feasible, with few downsides.

Objective:

We assessed whether social media messages from evidence-based positive psychology interventions encouraged intentions to do the intervention activities and intended positive message reactions, overall and among sociodemographic or cancer characteristic subgroups. We also aimed to identify perceived downsides of the activity that would negatively impact the interventions’ feasibility.

Methods:

Young adults (ages 18-39, cancer diagnosis ages 15-39) were randomized to a between-persons online experiment. Participants viewed a social media message with social context cues (vs. not) for one of two types of intervention (Acts of Kindness vs. Social Connectedness). Participants reported intentions to do the activity, along with their perceived social presence in the message (how much they felt the sense of others) and forecasted positivity resonance (whether they thought they would experience socially connected positive emotions in the future with the activity), with 5-point items. Participants also reported their self-efficacy (how certain they can do the intervention activity) with a 0-100 item and potential downsides of the activity categorically.

Results:

More than four out of five young adults with cancer (N=396) reported they “somewhat” (coded as 3) to “extremely” (5) intended to do the intervention activity (84.8%; means, M, ranged from = 3.4-3.6, standard deviations, SD=.9-1.0), perceived social presence in the messages (88.4%; M=3.8, SD=.7), and forecasted positivity resonance (88.1%; M=3.8-3.9, SD=.8). Participants reported having self-efficacy to complete the activity (M=70.7% of 100% possible, SD=15.4-17.2). Most (80.8%) did not think of downsides for the interventions. Messages with social context cues (vs. not) and both intervention types were rated similarly (all P>.05). Black young adults reported lower intentions, perceived social presence, and forecasted positivity resonance than white young adults (all P<.001). Participants in treatment (vs. completed) reported greater intentions to do the activities (P<.001).

Conclusions:

Positive psychology intervention messages adapted for social media were perceived as acceptable and feasible among young adults with cancer. The social media-based messages encouraged increasing one’s social connectedness and performing acts of kinds. Young adults with cancer also predicted they would have feelings of positive social engagement (positivity resonance) when doing the interventions – the key ingredient for experiencing the health benefits of these activities. This study provides promising evidence for development of age-appropriate, highly scalable interventions to improve psychosocial health among young adults with cancer. Clinical Trial: We preregistered the procedure and analyses on AsPredicted (#79697).