Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2019Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women. Women with a personal or family history of breast and ovarian cancer are encouraged to seek genetic testing, but fewer than 15 to 30% of eligible patients are ever offered genetic testing. Social media may be well positioned to address this area of need. This research seeks to improve our understanding of social media as a platform for public health research and communication, in the context of familial ovarian cancer susceptibility. In Aim 1, I explored how ovarian cancer and ovarian cancer risk is discussed over Twitter, collecting and analyzing tweets to identify structural features of a tweet and describe how social media users publicly exchange and engage with ovarian cancer information over Twitter. In Aim 2, I conducted a series of contextual interviews to describe the online health information-seeking behaviors of internet users at risk for ovarian cancer. Finally, in Aim 3, I evaluated innovative methods for recruiting research participants for an ovarian cancer genetic testing study, using paid targeted advertisements and unpaid posts over Facebook. Findings from this research illustrate what structural components of a social media post may help improve message reach, describe how internet users with a risk of ovarian cancer assess online health information and demonstrate that Facebook is an effective tool for reaching women over the age of 30 with an increased risk of ovarian cancer. These findings offer insight into how public health professionals can leverage social media for the purposes of health communication, and demonstrate that with the help of patient advocates, online communication tools like social media may improve representation in research and health service provision, by widening messaging reach
