Breast Self-Examination System Using Multifaceted Trustworthiness: Observational Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Public Health
• Social Sciences

Background:

• Breast cancer remains a leading cause of mortality in women globally.
• Patients increasingly use social media for health discussions due to reluctance for in-person visits.
• Physician behavior on social media, like data sharing, impacts patient trust.

Purpose of the Study:

• Identify trustworthiness indicators for breast self-examination systems.
• Design and propose a breast self-examination system.
• Evaluate multifaceted trustworthiness in patient-physician social media interactions.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using open-ended interviews with 32 participants (16 patients, 16 physicians).
• Evaluation of a proposed breast self-examination system through patient ratings and chat room interaction monitoring.
• Analysis of daily/weekly meetings and physician-posted articles.

Main Results:

• Honesty (r=0.91) showed the strongest positive correlation with trustworthiness.
• Credibility (r=0.85), confidence (r=0.79), and faith (r=0.79) were also highly correlated.
• Patient trust increased with repeated interactions with a physician.

Conclusions:

• Multifaceted trustworthiness significantly impacts breast self-examination systems.
• Evaluating trustworthiness indicators ensures ethical patient-physician interactions.
• Honesty is the most preferred indicator for building trust in this context.