Investigating relationships among cancer survivors’ engagement in an online support community, social support perceptions, well-being, and moderating effects of existing (offline) social support

Purpose Socially supportive relationships help cancer survivors cope with their diagnosis and may improve quality of life; however, many survivors report unmet support and information needs. Online communities of survivors may address these needs, but research on their benefits have been equivocal. This cross-sectional, self-report study investigated relationships among cancer survivors’ level of engagement in an online survivor community (The American Cancer Society Cancer Survivors Network®; CSN), perceptions of emotional/informational support available from online communities (“online social support”), well-being, and moderating effects of “offline social support.”