Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 25, 2025
Date Accepted: Sep 22, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Evaluating Implementation Challenges and Features of Virtual Communities in Cancer Care: A NASSS Framework Systematic Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer survivors often face significant psychological challenges, including depression, anxiety, and social isolation, exacerbated by treatment side effects. Traditional psychosocial support systems are usually inaccessible, underfunded, or not tailored to the needs of underserved populations, limiting their effectiveness. Virtual communities have emerged as an alternative, providing emotional support and opportunities for information exchange. However, the implementation and sustainability of these platforms are constrained by technological, organizational, and policy-related barriers.
Objective:
This systematic review applies the NASSS (Non-adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability) framework to evaluate the characteristics, implementation challenges, and sustainability of virtual communities in cancer care.
Methods:
A comprehensive search of six major electronic databases identified 25 relevant studies, published between 2019 and 2024, that met predefined inclusion criteria. Data extraction focused on how virtual community features match the needs of cancer patients and their impact on mental health and quality of life.
Results:
Key factors contributing to the success of virtual communities include platform design, user engagement, organizational support, and adaptability to evolving patient needs. While virtual communities provide emotional support, reduce loneliness, and facilitate information sharing, challenges such as privacy concerns, limited scalability, and integration with healthcare systems remain.
Conclusions:
Virtual communities offer significant potential for supporting cancer patients, particularly in improving psychological well-being and facilitating access to information. However, challenges regarding technology, privacy, and system integration must be addressed to ensure their long-term success. Future research should focus on adapting these platforms to meet the evolving needs of patients throughout various cancer stages (e.g., diagnosis, treatment, remission) and integrating them into existing healthcare frameworks to enhance effectiveness. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO CRD42025638853; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=638853
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.