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          Abstract

          Background

          Women are concerned about reducing their breast cancer risk, particularly if they have daughters. Social media platforms, such as blogs written by mothers, are increasingly being recognized as a channel that women use to make personal and family health–related decisions. Government initiatives (eg, Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee) and researchers have called for scientists and the community to partner and disseminate scientifically and community-informed environmental risk information.

          Objective

          We developed and evaluated a blog intervention to disseminate breast cancer and environmental risk information to mothers. We teamed with mommy bloggers to disseminate a message that we developed and tailored for mothers and daughters based on scientific evidence from the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP). We posited that the intervention would influence women’s exposure to, acceptance of, and beliefs about environmental risks while promoting their intention to adopt risk-reducing behaviors.

          Methods

          Using a quasi-experimental design, we recruited 75 mommy bloggers to disseminate the breast cancer risk message on their respective blogs and examined the impact of the intervention on (1) readers exposed to the intervention (n=445) and (2) readers not exposed to the intervention (comparison group; n=353).

          Results

          Following the intervention, blog reader scores indicating exposure to the breast cancer risk and prevention information were greater than scores of blog readers who were not exposed (or did not recall seeing the message; mean 3.92, SD 0.85 and mean 3.45, SD 0.92, respectively; P<.001). Readers who recalled the intervention messages also had higher breast cancer risk and prevention information satisfaction scores compared with readers who did not see (or recall) the messages (mean 3.97, SD 0.75 and mean 3.57, SD 0.94, respectively; P<.001). Blog readers who recalled seeing the intervention messages were significantly more likely to share the breast cancer risk and prevention information they read, with their daughters specifically, than readers who did not recall seeing them (χ 2 1=8.1; P=.004). Those who recalled seeing the intervention messages reported significantly higher breast cancer risk and prevention information influence scores, indicative of behavioral intentions, than participants who did not recall seeing them (mean 11.22, SD 2.93 and mean 10.14, SD 3.24, respectively; P=.003). Most women ranked Facebook as their first choice for receiving breast cancer risk information.

          Conclusions

          Results indicated that blog readers who were exposed to (and specifically recalled) the BCERP-adapted intervention messages from mommy bloggers had higher breast cancer risk and prevention information exposure scores and higher breast cancer risk and prevention information satisfaction and influence scores than those who did not see (or recall) them. Mommy bloggers may be important opinion leaders for some women and key to enhancing the messaging, delivery, and impact of environmental breast cancer risk information on mothers.

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          Most cited references34

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          The influence of social networking sites on health behavior change: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

          Our aim was to evaluate the use and effectiveness of interventions using social networking sites (SNSs) to change health behaviors.
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            Computer Networks as Social Networks: Collaborative Work, Telework, and Virtual Community

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                J Med Internet Res
                J. Med. Internet Res
                JMIR
                Journal of Medical Internet Research
                JMIR Publications (Toronto, Canada )
                1439-4456
                1438-8871
                March 2019
                07 March 2019
                : 21
                : 3
                : e12441
                Affiliations
                [1 ] George Mason University Fairfax, VA United States
                [2 ] College of Health and Human Performance University of Florida Gainesville, FL United States
                [3 ] Westat Rockville, MD United States
                Author notes
                Corresponding Author: Kevin Wright kwrigh16@ 123456gmu.edu
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6278-0880
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3903-4278
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4099-528X
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4197-4675
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5187-2605
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3837-1950
                Article
                v21i3e12441
                10.2196/12441
                6427105
                30843866
                693cad84-4203-4e1d-974d-520aefcecd99
                ©Kevin Wright, Carla Fisher, Camella Rising, Amelia Burke-Garcia, Dasha Afanaseva, Xiaomei Cai. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 07.03.2019.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/.as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

                History
                : 7 October 2018
                : 15 November 2018
                : 11 December 2018
                : 14 December 2018
                Categories
                Original Paper
                Original Paper

                Medicine
                breast cancer,environment and public health,risk reduction behavior,blogging,social networking,social media,health communication,information dissemination

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