‘You have the power’: Social media can support equity in oncology
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PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Physicians and other health care professionals can utilize social media to support diversity, equity and inclusion in cancer care, according to a presenter at the COSMO Meeting.
These strategies can improve patient care, diversify the oncology workforce and expand research.
“Each one of you can create equity. You don’t need to wait for a large systemic change,” Narjust Florez, MD, FASCO, associate director of The Cancer Care Equity Program and thoracic oncologist at Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said during a presentation.
Power of storytelling
Florez opened her talk by telling attendees about a 63-year-old highly educated Hispanic woman who did not speak English. She had been labeled as noncompliant with a medication, the benefits of which had not been sufficiently conveyed in her language.
The woman had a self-detected breast mass and called a clinic to request an appointment. The only Spanish-speaking medical assistant was on vacation, so the woman had to wait 2 weeks to schedule the appointment.
A subsequent mammogram revealed an abnormality, so a clinic staff member called the woman and left a voicemail — in English.
“How many of you have gotten a voicemail in a foreign language and your first instinct is to delete it?” Florez asked attendees. “This woman got one voicemail in a language she doesn’t speak, with no further follow-up.”
Months later, the woman received a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer.
“This woman is my aunt,” Florez told attendees. “Equity is not something that happens to people you don’t know. It happens to all of us.”
Social media provides an opportunity to spread that message, Florez said.
“The power of storytelling on social media is very strong,” she said. “You can tell a story about your patient or tell a story about your research. People are much more likely to remember a story than the numbers in your Kaplan-Meier curve.”
Additional benefits
Florez highlighted several ways oncology professionals can use social media to improve equity.
One is by helping to overcome medical mistrust.
She explained how she uses social media to encourage people to take advantage of three cancer diagnostic clinics that Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has opened in underserved areas.
She also has used social media to encourage Latina women to attend sessions that have led to the development of a cancer survivorship intervention tailored to cultural needs.
“We want to break stereotypes. We want to show we have an open door, we want to help the community, and people can trust their doctors,” Florez said. “It’s time for us to come down from the ivory tower, and social media is a great place to do that.”
Florez discussed how she and her colleagues have used social media as a recruitment tool for multiple research efforts.
She highlighted the #LatinasInMedicine community on X. Its nearly 10,000 members amplify achievements and increase the visibility of Latina women in medicine to create a professional network and establish a sense of belonging.
Florez often does Instagram lives with high school students around the country.
“They have never seen a Latina doctor,” Florez said. “They need to know they can be a doctor, too. You can do what you can see.”
Social media also can be used to amplify publications or other successes of mentees.
“You can help them be ‘out there,’” Florez said. “Many of them have imposter syndrome, so you can do it for them.”
‘You have the power’
There are limitations to social media, Florez said.
For example, X tends to be US/Europe-centric.
However, a survey of female physicians in India conducted via WhatsApp proved successful. X is banned in Brazil, but Instagram is very popular there, she added.
“Tailoring an approach by platform can be effective,” Florez said.
Language barriers must be taken into account.
“It’s hard to post in every language, so you have to tailor it to our target population,” Florez said.
It’s also important to remember “there will always be haters” on social media, she added.
“There will always be people who don’t agree with you, and that’s OK,” Florez said.
Florez closed by encouraging attendees to think about the actions they can take on social media to promote equity.
“You can create equity by posting in another language, by using subtitles for your videos, or by talking about things that people don’t typically talk about,” Florez said. “You have the power. This is not a hobby. This is a way to reach communities that other people haven’t bothered to reach.”
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Florez N. Using social media to support diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) in oncology. Presented at: Collaboration for Outcomes Using Social Media in Oncology (COSMO) Meeting; Sept. 18-19, 2024; Providence, Rhode Island.
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