Living with and beyond breast cancer : exploring women’s use of social media to support psychosocial health
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: Despite the extensive use of social media, its role in supporting women living with and beyond breast cancer (LwBBC), across the survivorship trajectory, remains underexplored. Existing research has tended to focus on single or dual platform use and utilised secondary data, principally from Facebook and Twitter. In contrast, this study sought to ensure women’s experiences of use took centre stage by adopting a qualitative approach to explore social media use across the survivorship trajectory. Aims: The aims of this thesis were to: a) explore how women LwBBC use social media; b) examine how women use social media as communicative resources in relation to LwBBC; and c) make sense of how women use social media to support their psychosocial health. Methods: Twenty-one women (age range 27-64) participated in semi-structured interviews. Twelve participated in a photo-elicitation study using pre-existing photographs to explore social support. Nine participated in a photo-production study in which they took photographs (n=157) to represent how they communicate their experiences of LwBBC to others. A bricolaged approach to data analysis using thematic, polytextual and voice centred methodological approaches ensured women’s voices were brought to the fore within the analysis process. Findings: Social media use is integral to many, but not all, women’s daily lives and considered by women an appropriate space to explore their own experiences. Women describe using multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and WhatsApp concurrently. The use of multiple platforms simultaneously to satisfy psychosocial needs demonstrates use to be more fluid and dynamic than the current literature suggests. Through listening to women’s voices, and using photographs to visualise voices, three key themes came to the fore: (i) finding relevant, timely and appropriate support; (ii) navigating disrupted identities; and (iii) (re)gaining a sense of control. Analys…
abstract: Background: Despite the extensive use of social media, its role in supporting women living with and beyond breast cancer (LwBBC), across the survivorship trajectory, remains underexplored. Existing research has tended to focus on single or dual platform use and utilised secondary data, principally from Facebook and Twitter. In contrast, this study sought to ensure women’s experiences of use took centre stage by adopting a qualitative approach to explore social media use across the survivorship trajectory. Aims: The aims of this thesis were to: a) explore how women LwBBC use social media; b) examine how women use social media as communicative resources in relation to LwBBC; and c) make sense of how women use social media to support their psychosocial health. Methods: Twenty-one women (age range 27-64) participated in semi-structured interviews. Twelve participated in a photo-elicitation study using pre-existing photographs to explore social support. Nine participated in a photo-production study in which they took photographs (n=157) to represent how they communicate their experiences of LwBBC to others. A bricolaged approach to data analysis using thematic, polytextual and voice centred methodological approaches ensured women’s voices were brought to the fore within the analysis process. Findings: Social media use is integral to many, but not all, women’s daily lives and considered by women an appropriate space to explore their own experiences. Women describe using multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and WhatsApp concurrently. The use of multiple platforms simultaneously to satisfy psychosocial needs demonstrates use to be more fluid and dynamic than the current literature suggests. Through listening to women’s voices, and using photographs to visualise voices, three key themes came to the fore: (i) finding relevant, timely and appropriate support; (ii) navigating disrupted identities; and (iii) (re)gaining a sense of control. Analys…
author: Ure, CM
language: en
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:26Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford