Download This PaperBreast Cancer Communication on Twitter: A Systematic Literature Review
22 Pages Posted: 22 May 2020
Date Written: April 26, 2020
Abstract
Despite the growing trend and the benefits of social media especially Twitter for all kinds of health-related awareness, there has not been much research or study in the past decade on the topic of breast cancer or breast cancer awareness using Twitter. A systematic review of the existing literature is needed to understand the current situation of science on breast cancer or breast cancer awareness on the social media platform of Twitter while identifying potential opportunities for advanced search and practice in this area. Our literature review focuses on the study of breast cancer or breast cancer awareness on Twitter. The high prevalence of breast cancer coupled with the active presence of breast cancer organizations on Twitter offers a starting point for a synthesis of the current literature.
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines are used in our systematic literature review of relevant published articles (fig 1). The keyword search ranges in the time frame between January 2010 and December 2020. This search is performed with the help of three medical and social science web databases (PubMed, Web of Science, IEEE Explore) to capture a decade of published papers and articles related to social media specifically ‘Twitter’ in the context of breast cancer and breast cancer awareness. The search terms “breast cancer” OR “breast cancer awareness” AND “Social media” are used to track articles. The following criteria are considered for determining the type of articles.
The initial search using the “social media” OR “Twitter” keyword identified 185 articles. The exclusion of duplicates left 163 articles in the search results that were then manually reviewed for exclusion by the members of the team. In all 137 articles were excluded for the following reasons: editorial material (i.e., articles that express the opinions of the editor), Meeting abstracts (i.e., just abstracts that give brief summary of the topic), exploratory study, book review (i.e., comments on the content of the book), and other documents that are based on other social media platforms. No outcome articles (i.e., articles that have no end result or just include comments about analysis). Any type of uncertainties regarding the exclusion was discussed with team members and resolved through consensus. The final sample included 26 articles.
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