NCT02396472

Brief Summary

People facing serious health threats increasingly use Internet health support communities to obtain informational support, emotional support and other resources. This study introduces software algorithms similar to those used by social media sites to put people in touch with helpful information and social interactions. Participants from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network will have access to this online support group using the default interface that orders content by broad content category and date or with a new interface that highlights communication content and people that match users' interests and needs.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
6,500

participants targeted

Target at P75+ for not_applicable depression

Timeline
Completed

Started Jun 2016

Typical duration for not_applicable depression

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

January 15, 2015

Completed
2 months until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

March 24, 2015

Completed
1.2 years until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

June 1, 2016

Completed
3.2 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

August 16, 2019

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

August 16, 2019

Completed
Last Updated

February 12, 2021

Status Verified

August 1, 2019

Enrollment Period

3.2 years

First QC Date

January 15, 2015

Last Update Submit

February 10, 2021

Conditions

DepressionStressAnxiety

Keywords

social support

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Read message (Does the user read the message they were exposed to?)

    1 day

Secondary Outcomes (2)

  • Interaction satisfaction (Self-report measure of satisfaction 3-item survey)

    1 day

  • Reply to message (How long does it take the users to reply to a message they were exposed to, if they reply at all.)

    2 days

Study Arms (5)

Order by time and topic

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Volunteers from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network (CSN) will see some of their messages delivered using CSN's default ordering, which shows messages within a conversational thread ordered by time stamp. Conversational threads are nested within a broad topic-based forum, like breast cancer or colorectal cancer survivors. Note that this is a within-participant trial, so that all participants participate in all arms of the trial. Messages, not people, are randomly assigned to condition.

Behavioral: Order by time and topic

Order by information relevance

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In this condition some messages will be highlighted if they match the type of content the user has previously shown interest in, by previously contributing or reading semantically similar material.

Behavioral: Order by information relevance

Order by social relationship

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In this condition some messages will be highlighted because they come from people the user has previously shown interest in, by previously reading their posts or communicating with them.

Behavioral: Order by social relationship

Order by help giving

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In this condition some messages will be highlighted because they seek help and therefore provide an opportunity for participants to provide social support to others.

Behavioral: Order by help giving

Order by self-disclosure

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In this condition some messages will be highlighted because in them the writer is self-disclosing, and they provide provide an opportunity for participants to self-disclose in return.

Behavioral: Order by self-disclosure

Interventions

Order by time and topicBEHAVIORAL
Order by time and topic
Order by information relevanceBEHAVIORAL
Order by information relevance
Order by social relationshipBEHAVIORAL
Order by social relationship
Order by help givingBEHAVIORAL
Order by help giving
Order by self-disclosureBEHAVIORAL
Order by self-disclosure

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersYes
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Is an existing or new registrant to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network.

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, United States

Location

Related Publications (7)

  • Wang YC, Kraut RE, Levine JM. Eliciting and receiving online support: using computer-aided content analysis to examine the dynamics of online social support. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Apr 20;17(4):e99. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3558.

    PMID: 25896033BACKGROUND

  • Vlahovic, T., Wang, Y.-C., Kraut, R. E., & Levine, J. M. (2014). Support matching and satisfaction in an online breast cancer support community. CHI'14: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1625-1634 ). NY: ACM.

    BACKGROUND

  • Wang, Y., Kraut, R., & Levine, J. (2012). To stay or leave? the relationship of emotional and informational support to commitment in online health support groups CSCW '12 Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 833-842). NY: ACM.

    BACKGROUND

  • Yang D, Kraut R, Smith T, Mayfield E, Jurafsky D. Seekers, Providers, Welcomers, and Storytellers: Modeling Social Roles in Online Health Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:344. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300574.

    PMID: 31423493BACKGROUND

  • Yang D, Yao Z, Seering J, Kraut R. The Channel Matters: Self-disclosure, Reciprocity and Social Support in Online Cancer Support Groups. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:31. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300261.

    PMID: 31448374BACKGROUND

  • Yang D, Yao Z, Kraut R. Self-disclosure and Channel Difference in Online Health Support Groups. Proc Int AAAI Conf Weblogs Soc Media. 2017 May;2017:704-707.

    PMID: 31423352BACKGROUND

  • Yang D, Kraut R, Levine JM. Commitment of Newcomers and Old-timers to Online Health Support Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2017 May;2017:6363-6375. doi: 10.1145/3025453.3026008.

    PMID: 31423492BACKGROUND

Related Links

MeSH Terms

Conditions

DepressionAnxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavioral SymptomsBehaviorMental Disorders

Study Officials

  • Robert E Kraut, PhD

    Carnegie Mellon University

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
DOUBLE
Who Masked
PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE CARE
Intervention Model
SINGLE GROUP
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

January 15, 2015

First Posted

March 24, 2015

Study Start

June 1, 2016

Primary Completion

August 16, 2019

Study Completion

August 16, 2019

Last Updated

February 12, 2021

Record last verified: 2019-08

Locations

US(1)