Assessment of bladder cancer patients and carers use of internet, social media and quality of available patient centric online resources: A systematic review

Objective This systematic synthesis of literature aims to evaluate the use of internet as well as social media by bladder cancer (BCa) patients and their carers; alongside synthesising evidence on the quality of available online resources for bladder cancer patients. Methods Selected studies were published between January 2000 and September 2018, written in the English language and meeting the inclusion criteria. Data sources included PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus. Results Fifteen studies were included in the review. Four studies explored patterns of internet use among the bladder cancer patients, five studies investigated social media use related to bladder cancer and six studies evaluated quality of online resources available for bladder cancer patients. Evidence in all these three dimensions was limited in its rigour to establish if use of internet, social media and online resources for bladder cancer is effective in improving the care outcomes for patients with bladder cancer. Conclusion Our review emphasises the forgotten status of bladder cancer by establishing that despite its high global incidence it remains underrepresented in building evidence around patient information needs and possible role of online spaces. Our synthesis establishes that further research is needed to examine the full impact of online information and social media use on the health management of bladder cancer patients.