Cancer survivor identity shared in a social media intervention and its psychosocial effects for young adult survivors of childhood cancer

The experience of surviving cancer diagnosis and treatment alter a young person's life in many ways. Young adult survivors of childhood cancers face ongoing medical risks, in addition to a range of social and psychological complications that may affect their development. For example, they confront stereotypes about cancer survivors, as well as stresses caused by their uncertainty about complications that may occur later in life. This study investigates how cancer survivors construct their personal and social identities, and how these identities affect their psychosocial health, as measured by social support, depression, and survivor self-efficacy. Fourteen young adult survivors of pediatric cancer participated in a customized social networking and videoblog intervention program called LIFECommunity, over a six-month period. Survivors were asked to share their stories on various topics by posting video messages. Those videoblog postings were collected and content analyzed to see how cancer survivor shared and expressed their identities. We found that these individuals did not strongly embrace a ‘cancer survivor identity,' although many did internalize negative stereotypes associated with being a cancer survivor. Analysis of the “Who am I?” identity test indicated that survivors who held negative stereotypes about cancer survivors there was a positive relationship with depression, while positive stereotypes showed significant association with cancer survivor efficacy. Overcompensating for stereotypes had no association with depression or cancer survivor efficacy. The long-term implications of cancer survivorship for young people's identity formation are discussed in the context of practitioner care.