Through interaction with each other, they not only share experiences and raise awareness for certain issues among themselves but also among health care providers and the research community. They share such knowledge also in online communities. Also, patients have much experiential knowledge that can be relevant to others. As a potentially life-threatening illness with a growing number of new patients and survivors, cancer can raise a wide range of specific informational and emotional support issues. Nowadays, there are an increasing number of online health communities, for cancer and other diseases, each with its own specific aims.
They possibly learn from others, have more access to services, and support better (shared) decisions about health care, such as treatment options. Sharing experiences may help patients to understand their illness and compare their situation. Furthermore, patients-as well as their family members and friends-have come to relate to these environments, partly because of the popularity of Facebook and other social platforms. Literature cites various forms of online contact between patients, including bulletin boards, closed networks, mailing lists, newsgroups, discussion forums (moderated or otherwise), chat rooms, Facebook groups, Twitter follow groups, email groups, etc. In recent years, the concept of online community for patients and their relatives (ie, posters) has developed as a result of improved technical possibilities.
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