Impact of COVID-19 on social media as perceived by the oncology community: results from a survey in collaboration with the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the OncoAlert Network.

A Curioni, S Peters, E de Azambuja, R Wong, M Strijbos, M Scheffler, S Pilotto, A Lamarca, A M Garcia, G Morgan, C Criscitiello, A Calles, I Bozovic-Spasojevic, R Dienstmann, B Westphalen, B Devnani, M Lambertini, M Tagliamento

Journal: ESMO open 2021;6(2):100104

PMID: 33838532

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Abstract

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of modern-day oncology, including how stakeholders communicate through social media. We surveyed oncology stakeholders in order to assess their attitudes pertaining to social media and how it has been affected during the pandemic.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A 40-item survey was distributed to stakeholders from 8 July to 22 July 2020 and was promoted through the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the OncoAlert Network.

RESULTS

One thousand and seventy-six physicians and stakeholders took part in the survey. In total, 57.3% of respondents were medical oncologists, 50.6% aged <40 years, 50.8% of female gender and mostly practicing in Europe (51.5%). More than 90% of respondents considered social media a useful tool for distributing scientific information and for education. Most used social media to stay up to date on cancer care in general (62.5%) and cancer care during COVID-19 (61%) given the constant flow of information. Respondents also used social media to interact with other oncologists (78.8%) and with patients (34.4%). Overall, 61.1% of respondents were satisfied with the role that social media was playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, 41.1% of respondents reported trouble in discriminating between credible and less credible information and 30% stated social networks were a source of stress. For this reason, one-third of respondents reduced its use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding meeting attendance, a total of 59.1% of responding physicians preferred in-person meetings to virtual ones, and 51.8% agreed that virtual meetings and social distancing could hamper effective collaboration.

CONCLUSION

Social media has a useful role in supporting cancer care and professional engagement in oncology. Although one-third of respondents reported reduced use of social media due to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority found social media useful to keep up to date and were satisfied with the role social media was playing during the pandemic.

Address: Department of Medical and Radiation Oncology, Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (DiMI), School of Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy; Department of Medical Oncology, Oncologia Medica 2, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy.; Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (DiMI), School of Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy; Department of Medical Oncology, U.O.C. Clinica di Oncologia Medica, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy.; Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.; Department of Medicine 3 and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany.; Oncology Data Science Group, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain.; Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.; Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Madrid, Spain.; Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy; Department of Hematology and Oncology (DIPO), University of Milan, Milan, Italy.; Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.; Section of Medical Oncology, Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital, Dagupan, Philippines.; Department of Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation, Manchester, UK; Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.; Section of Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Verona Hospital Trust, Verona, Italy.; Department I of Internal Medicine, Center for Integrated Oncology Aachen Bonn Cologne Duesseldorf, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.; Department of Medical Oncology, GZA Hospitals, Sint-Augustinus, Antwerp, Belgium; Monash University, Eastern Health Clinical School, Box Hill, Australia.; Department of Medical Oncology, Eastern Health, Box Hill, Australia.; Institut Jules Bordet and l'Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.LB.), Brussels, Belgium.; Oncology Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and Lausanne University, Lausanne, Switzerland.

DOI: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2021.100104

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MeSH Terms: Adult, Aged, Attitude of Health Personnel, Attitude to Computers, COVID-19, Female, Humans, Information Dissemination, Male, Medical Oncology, Middle Aged, Oncologists, Social Media, Social Networking, Stress, Psychological, Surveys and Questionnaires, Telemedicine