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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.