Where there is suffering, there is sharing: Sharing discourse by Chinese breast cancer patients on social media

Abstract

This study explores themes of the sharing discourse by 40 Chinese breast cancer patients and their thematic features across different disease stages on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform. The results show that Chinese breast cancer patients’ sharing discourse is mainly oriented towards disease information, personal emotions, and social relationships. Across the four stages of breast cancer, there is an overall increasing tendency of the patient’s orientation towards personal emotions and social relationships, but a decrease in disease information. The study highlights sharing discourse in virtual spaces can cross-sectionally reflect patients’ attitudes and beliefs about cancer, suggesting digital sharing can be approached and initiated as empathy-charged support outlets for cancer patients across stages.