Promoting Clinical Conversations about Lung Cancer Screening: Exploring the Role of Perceived Online Social Support

Abstract

The perceived availability of online social support may contribute to patient-provider conversations about lung cancer screening. This study examines how the perceived availability of instrumental and emotional online social support is associated with patient-provider communication about lung cancer screening among adults who meet U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce (USPSTF) eligibility criteria and live with a COPD diagnosis. In April 2018, 575 adults completed an online survey after being recruited from a large southeastern academic medical center’s broad research registry and website listing. Nearly half of the participants were 55-to-80 years old (41%), a current or former smoker who had quit smoking within the past 15 years (42%), and reported a smoking prevalence of 30 pack years or more (PPY; 41%). Results demonstrate that having a COPD diagnosis, identifying as male, and being a current or former tobacco smoker resulted in greater odds of having a clinical conversation about lung cancer screening. Conversely, meeting the 30 PPY smoking and 55-to-80 age thresholds lowered the odds of having these conversations. A high degree of instrumental and emotional online social support was associated with a greater incidence of annual patient-provider conversations about screening. This combination of perceived online social support was especially useful for patients with COPD.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number F32HL143938.