Hear candid conversations between people conquering cancer — patients, their family and friends, and doctors and researchers working to help us all.
Health-related misinformation isn’t a new problem. It is, however, a proliferating one, its growth fueled by a broad range of factors, from political distrust, an increasingly online society, and, at times, a failure to explain vital healthcare information in terms that non-scientists—including patients with cancer—can understand.
"It can be very challenging in a clinical encounter when you’re speaking to a patient who's been exposed to misinformation, because it can be very compelling,” Dr. Loeb says. “And so, it’s very important to validate the patient and their concerns and the unmet needs that may be driving them toward this.”
A former Conquer Cancer award recipient and urological oncologist, Dr. Stacy Loeb has spent years studying the spread of cancer-related misinformation on social media—including the consequences and how to mitigate it. “It's a growing problem,” she says. “We need more researchers from all different disciplines to try to figure out how to really address this.”
In this episode of Your Stories, Dr. Loeb joins ASCO's Sybil Green to discuss the rise of misinformation online, its impact on the cancer landscape, and how people across the cancer community can help to turn the tide.
