Needs of women with breast cancer as communicated to physicians on the Internet

Purpose: With improved access to health information via the Internet, an increasing number of women with breast cancer are using this venue to obtain information about their illness and treatment from physicians. This study aims to identify the needs of women with breast cancer who communicate with physicians on the Internet. Methods: From a total of 4,424 requests posted by Korean women with breast cancer to a physician run Internet Q&A board during 2003 to 2007, we sampled 1,355 representative requests according to different type of online user identification and analyzed these using a qualitative content analytic approach to identify the nature of the requests. Results: The vast majority of women (93.5%) used the online Q&A board to seek informational support from physicians. They requested information across a broad range of topics, including treatment (38.4% of requests), physical condition (31.7%), and lifestyle/self-care (24%). Women at different disease stages made requests in different informational domains. Few (<5%) postings were direct requests for emotional support, but emotional requests were often embedded within informational requests. Over 63% of requests expressed concern and worry, and about 75% of the requests included at least one emotional expression. There was no difference by type of online user identification with respect to the subject and purpose of the requests. Conclusions: Korean women with breast cancer expressed diverse needs related to their physical and psychological conditions in their online requests to physicians via a Q&A board. While future research should establish and evaluate the role of internet communications for cancer management, we conclude that an online Q&A board can be a valuable tool in assisting breast cancer patients in managing their physical and psychosocial needs as well as communicating these needs to physicians.