Using Social Media as a Platform for Increasing Knowledge of Lung Cancer Screening in High-Risk Patients

BACKGROUND: Uptake in lung cancer screening for high-risk patients remains low. Eligible patients may not know that this preventive service is available and covered by insurance. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore using social media to educate patients about lung cancer screening and assess motivation to discuss lung cancer screening with health-care providers after viewing the educational program. METHODS: Subjects ages 55 to 77 who were current smokers or former smokers who quit in the past 15 years with a more than 30-pack-year smoking history were recruited via a Facebook advertisement. Subjects completed a demographic survey and the Lung Cancer Screening-12 (LCS-12) knowledge measure tool, watched a YouTube video about lung cancer screening, and completed the LCS-12 tool (post-test). Subjects rated their level of motivation to discuss lung cancer screening with their health-care provider. RESULTS: This study used a pre-experimental, one-group pre-test and post-test design. Scores from the pre- and post-test were analyzed using the paired t-test. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze subject self-reporting of motivation to discuss screening with their provider. The mean knowledge score of participants (n = 31) significantly increased from 5.26 to 8.19 after viewing the video (t = –5.956, p < .001). The mean motivational level (1–5) was 3.52, with a mode of 5. CONCLUSIONS: A lack of knowledge regarding lung cancer screening may negatively impact the health of high-risk patients. This study suggests that social media can be used to increase knowledge of lung cancer screening. These findings demonstrate that the use of social media has a role in improving access to health information.