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Women who have breast cancer feel more positive, optimistic and less depressive when sharing about their health on their personal websites.
According to a recent study conducted by the University of California (USA), patients who were undergoing breast cancer treatment became increasingly optimistic when they participated in personal sharing websites. Despite the care from their family and friends, they were reluctant to share their illness with their loved ones.
The online sites in this study were especially useful for women with breast cancer, “They can tell their stories, express their emotions and communicate with others without mentioning information about their diagnosis and treatment, “said the main researcher Annette Stanton, a psychologist at the University of California.
This was the first study to use a randomized trial to evaluate the effects of online tools on the mood of the patient, Stanton shared. The sites used in this study were CaringBridge.org, MyLifeLine.org … The highlight being that no members participating on these test sites were aware that they were in the survey.
In the study, Stanton and his colleagues recruited 88 women from BreastLink, a network of cancer treatment centres in Southern California. These 28 to 76-year-oldwomen were assigned to create a personal website through a program called “Online Connectivity Project.
“These people have created websites and started inviting breast cancer patients to attend a three-hour seminar to lead them to create personal web pages on WordPress.org. They also provided these patients with a standardized 3-point rating questionnaire: At the beginning of the study, one month after they created their own website and again six months after their first use.
The changes in positive mood and attitude were the most noticeable in women undergoing cancer treatment during a 6-month study.
“This is just a small study and still needs to be validated by other similar studies,” said Dr. James Waisman, a breast cancer specialist at the Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California.
According to Knowledge MagSazineSource: Reuters
