Cancer and Social Medicine

More than 12.5 million health related searches conducted online every day. More than 2.3 million people who deal with cancer online and looking for answers, and about 20% of people use the Internet via family and friends. However, the exact number of cancer patients can not be determined. As cancer is highly prevalent in developed countries, people tend to have better access to the Internet, the assumption of 20 percent of people are Internet users, can actually be underestimation.

of cancer, e-mail communication is important to stay in touch with friends and family. E-mail has been rated the top item of the reasons why people go online. A staggering 31 billion email messages are exchanged daily worldwide. However, since 40% of all e-mail messages exchanged are spam, and they relate to health items such as breast augmentation, penis enlargement, weight loss, and Viagra. However, sending e-mail is not as effective as other forms of communication, where questions can be answered immediately.

There is an opportunity to improve email communication between cancer sufferers. Patients are expected to have all the current social networking functionality such as making friends, upload photos and videos, writing on walls, e-mail, live chat one-on-one or in groups, and comment on blogs written. These forms of communication can help patients to ask questions, to facilitate understanding and shared decision making and reduce unnecessary meetings.

Online health communities and electronic support groups have emerged when enough people sign up for holding a public hearing on a related topic. Data is exchanged in the communities, show 80 percent of the information requested or giving personal opinions, encouragement, support and experience, and 20% prayer. Women are engaging the support messages more frequently than men, who used the electronic community primarily for information exchange.

Different types of social networking, like e-mail, blogs and chat rooms can increase social isolation and reduced mental and psychological well-being. Heavy Internet use may be associated with increased loneliness and depression and tend to increase stress. However, people are inside seeking comfort and support from others within the Community.

quality information about cancer found on the Internet demonstrates the accuracy: 4% for prostate, 5.1% for breast cancer, and 6% for testicular cancer. The published rates are disturbingly inaccurate information. However, little evidence supports the idea that information is available on the Internet is worse than the content of the forums, where content is written by the disease suffer detailing their experiences. There is a growing consumer demand driven health care facilities. The real people who suffer from cancer, write the content seen on forums and social networking sites, are considered affordable source of information by others who suffer.

It is seen that 48% of people with cancer reported that they had enough information provided by their physicians, and 20% were not satisfied with information given and 39% of women with breast cancer show that they "would like to have had help with knowing what questions to ask. "However, dissatisfaction with the information is not the only reason why patients turn to the Internet.

to provide information to people with cancer has been shown to help them gain control, reduce anxiety, create realistic expectations, promote self-care and participation, and create a sense of security and zaštite.Zadovoljstvo information that is shown to correlate with the quality of life. People who feel satisfied with the adequacy of the information, are more likely to feel happy with their level of participation in overall decision making process.