How do you break bad news to a patient? How do you avoid falling into the trap of fake news? Two questions that come from interlocutors in constant dialogue: doctor and patient. These two subjects are victims of the phenomenon of disinformation with enormous damage for both categories, especially for patients who do not have the tools to recognize one of the many increasingly widespread fake news. In fact, a recent study found that 30% of the cancer news published on social networks is false. In order to combat disinformation and instead favor the dissemination of correct information in the oncology field, the project “comunicilcancro” was born, which includes a dedicated portal (www.comunicareilcancro.it). The project also aims to teach doctors, nurses, journalists, representatives of patient associations and institutions, responsible for the communication of public and private health companies and pharmaceuticals, the rules for speaking and writing about cancer and health in a correct and effective way. and with this in mind, the first university specialization course dedicated to these topics was born.
Aiom: in social networks the most cited disease is cancer
How widespread is misinformation
A recent study analyzed 200 of the articles on the most popular cancers on social media, 50 for each of the four most frequent cancers (breast, colorectal, prostate, lung). From the survey, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, it emerged that about one third (30.5%) contains harmful information because, for example, it can lead to postpone or even not follow life-saving therapies, to resort to dangerous “do it yourself” methods based on potentially toxic products or the use of alternative tools without scientific validity. Not only. The great echo of these articles, which received an average of 2,300 shares compared to 1,500 of certified news, is also worrying. “Too many fake news about cancer are still circulating in the media – he says Rossana Berardi, Professor of Medical Oncology at the Polytechnic University of Marche and Director of the Oncology Clinic of Ospedali Riuniti in Ancona. And social networks are the main culprits of this process of bad information ”.
Cancer, 2 out of 3 patients seek news on alternative treatments. Over 400 hoaxes on the web.
A course to learn how to communicate
The ‘comunicilcancro’ project aims to promote correct information in this area and through an academic training to train health professionals and disseminators by transmitting the fundamental rules to communicate not only cancer, but more generally health and medicine. “A study, which we conducted on 75 Italian health professionals and which is in the process of being published – continues Berardi – showed that half of these did not receive specific training in the communication field and 93.4% expressed the will to be able to undertake or improve their training. Moreover, a year and a half of the pandemic has sparked new and unexpected attention on the issues of health, scientific research, innovation, vaccines, well-being, prevention and medicine for the healthy. A new awareness that, however, must be communicated in a correct and scientifically rigorous way. One of the objectives of the specialization course in programming is precisely to teach how to communicate in a responsible way, looking for safe and certified sources and using simple languages despite the complexity of the themes “.
Oncology, twenty recommendations from clinicians to the media for correct communication
The popularity of cancer
To take a picture of the fake health news conveyed in 2019, the American broadcaster NBC News analyzed the data to understand where they spread and how people interacted with them, starting with 50 articles that, alone, generated over 12 million. between shares, reactions and comments on the web, especially on Facebook. “Cancer has emerged as the most popular health disinformation topic and fake news ranges from unproven therapies such as ginger defined as 10,000 times more effective than chemotherapy to the idea that a mysterious group with economic interests is hiding the ultimate cure against. tumors – underlines Mauro Boldrini, Director of Communication of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom) and teacher of the course. These hoaxes risk having disruptive effects. We know that the internet is an important source of information retrieval, used by 3 out of 4 cancer patients. And we cannot ignore the role of social networks, considering them as second-class media. Our goal is to ‘govern’ this phenomenon, providing all-round tools to healthcare professionals and to all those who have developed an interest in communication but who still have little awareness of the professional use of digital platforms ”.
Oncology, twenty recommendations from clinicians to the media for correct communication
Exploit the potential of social media
The rapid and massive spread of cancer-related issues on social networks is also forcing healthcare professionals to learn how to use these digital tools that can become important weapons in the fight against cancer. “Their aggregative potential – points out Berardi – makes it possible to expand the network of users (not only doctors, but also patients and citizens) to involve them directly in the activities, for example, of scientific societies and patient associations, thus promoting their viral spread. Social networks also make it possible to carry out awareness campaigns and promote healthy lifestyles, reaching specific groups of the population, but they are still little used in this sense. Instagram, for example, can be used to communicate the rules of cancer prevention to younger people, less present on Facebook and Twitter ”.
From the Marche the pact for good communication in oncology
by IRMA D’ARIA
The tumor is no longer incurable
But why is cancer so much news? The fact is that despite an estimated 377,000 new cases in Italy in 2020, oncology represents the medical area that has experienced the greatest changes in recent years and the prognosis of cancer diseases has changed a lot, so much so that today we no longer speak. of incurability. “Living people affected by cancer in Italy were less than one and a half million at the beginning of the nineties, two million and 250 thousand in 2006, 2 million and 800 thousand in 2013, 3 million and 600 thousand in 2020”, he explains Francesco Cognetti, president Foce (Federation of oncologists, cardiologists and hematologists). “Today, many forms of cancer can be cured, thanks to prevention and innovative therapies, and many can be lived with for a long time, thanks to treatments that are increasingly respectful of the quality of life. It is necessary to communicate these scientific advances with clarity without fueling illusions, which undermine citizens’ trust in science and health institutions ”.
Why it is important to communicate well
Incorrect or deliberately false information in the oncology field can do so much damage especially to patients who risk making wrong decisions for their treatment path. “Communicating cancer and, more generally, medicine and health correctly – he says Mauro Silvestrini, vice-dean and elected dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Polytechnic University of Marche – represents a weapon to be exploited also in terms of public health and is a formidable educational tool for the entire population. But, to do this, you need to know the mechanisms of communication. The University has a fundamental role in the training of health professionals, hence the choice to activate the first university specialization course that intends to teach these processes “.
The university course
The university specialization course entitled “Communicating in Oncology, Medicine and Health“) is promoted by the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Polytechnic University of Marche and the teaching will be based on both lectures and workshops and seminars with qualified professionals, in collaboration with WHIN (Web Health Information Network). “This initiative is part of other projects supported by our hospital such as the Observatory against fake news on health in the Marche Region – he concludes Michele Caporossi, general manager of AOU Ospedali Riuniti of Ancona. “From a survey by the News-Italy Observatory of the Urbino Institute for Journalism Training, it appears that 81% of Italians are convinced they can recognize false news. If so, the fakes would not have the success that they too often collect. The pandemic has highlighted the fallibility of scientific medical communication. Science must return to being fully experienced as a great chance for our future and not as a threat. We put this goal first in our work ”.
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