







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n1p1 

 1 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

A Study of Video Narratives of Caregivers of Children with Cancer 

Through the Lens of Media Geography 

Wangqiang Zou1,2 

1 School of Karst Science, Guizhou Normal University, China 

2 State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertification Control, China 

Correspondence: Wangqiang Zou, State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertification Control, 

Guiyang 550025, China. E-mail: 1611951281/at/qq.com 

 

Received: November 12, 2024; Accepted: December 18, 2024; Published: December 18, 2024 

 

The research is financed by：This paper was supported by the Science and Technology Support Project of Guizhou 

Science and Technology Department (grant number: 2022-254). 

 

Abstract 

The purpose of this study was to analyze the narrative content of anti-cancer videos posted by caregivers of 

children with cancer on the Jieyin platform. Through coding and analysis of 192 anti-cancer videos posted by 10 

caregivers, it was found that these videos focused on four main areas: documenting the child's cancer journey, 

expressing the emotional stress associated with caregiving, raising public awareness of childhood cancer, and 

raising money for charity. The study suggests that the Shakeology platform is not only a tool for caregivers to 

document and share their sick child's treatment process, but also an important avenue for emotional catharsis, 

social support, and raising financial resources. These anti-cancer video contents have contributed positively to 

raising public awareness and understanding of childhood cancer, while helping families of children with cancer to 

better cope with life's challenges. 

Keywords: health communication, caregivers of children with cancer, Shakeology platform 

1. Introduction 

Cancer ranks as the ninth highest cause of childhood disease burden globally (Murre J M J, 2015).Between 2018 

and 2020, a total of approximately 121,145 cases of cancer in children and adolescents will be diagnosed in China 

(Ni X. 2022). Caregivers (e.g., parents or guardians) of children with cancer face the challenge of coping with 

caregiving issues and medical decision-making related to their child's medical care, as well as coping with their 

own psychological distress throughout the treatment process. Numerous studies have shown that caregivers 

experience stress, anxiety, and decreased quality of life throughout the diagnosis, treatment, and recovery from 

childhood cancer (Best, M, 2001; Boman, K, 2011; Boman, K, 2000; Salvador, Á, 2015; Vrijmoet-Wiersma, C, 

2008), and during the child's treatment period, caregivers must find a balance between their existing family and 

work in order to cope with the new caregiving and emotional demands of being a caregiver for a child with cancer 

(Trask PC, 2003; Hoekstra-Weebers JE, 1999; Hoekstra-Weebers, 2012; Martin S, 2011). Increasing access to 

social support for caregivers of children with cancer can help them effectively manage their psychological stress 

and other needs. For example, caregivers of children with cancer express a need for emotional and informational 

support (Adams, E, 2009; Eysenbach, G, 2004; Love, B, 2012; Kerr, L. 2007). Due to the intensive nature of 

pediatric cancer treatment, many families are removed from their existing social networks (Gage E, 2012), which 

may make social media a convenient and effective way to share experiences, communicate with others, and 

connect with supporters. 

Space is the basic material of geography, and space under the study of media geography goes beyond the usual 

physical attributes. Physical space is the definition of the scope of the real environment, and real environments 

such as cities, regions, and countries exist in a certain physical space. However, the space in media geography is 

transformed into a sphere of interpersonal communication based on social and media constructs, and space has 

become a variety of scenarios for human communication in the media communication environment. The society 

we live in has become an interconnected society with various layers constructed around the media. The information 

in the society is transmitted by the media as the core brain, forming a socialized space full of media information. 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 2 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Merowitz suggests that electronic media breaks the traditional relationship between physical space and social 

scenes, creating new scenes and breaking up old ones (Merowitz, 2002). 

Under the effect of mass media, the space we live in is no longer limited to the original natural space, but more 

inclined to the psychological space with social attributes. According to Simmel, the sense of space is something 

that everyone can perceive, and it represents the distance between people (including the physical-geographical 

distance and human psychological distance). People's interaction activities are the filling of many spatial senses 

(Simmel, 2002). 

Along with the development of the Internet, social media platforms have gradually become an important platform 

for patients with various diseases and their caregivers to present themselves and exchange health information. As 

a top streaming short video software with unique platform attributes, Jieyin provides a new "stage" for cancer 

patients to present themselves and build social networks. Social media platforms such as Jieyin are embedded in 

the daily lives of caregivers of children with cancer, expanding the living space of the general public. In order to 

understand whether Jieyin can be a useful source of support for meeting the needs of caregivers of children with 

cancer, it is necessary to first understand the use of social media sites by caregivers of children with cancer. The 

purpose of the current study was to describe the content analysis of caregiving videos posted by caregivers of 

children with cancer in the Shakeology platform. 

2. Methodologies 

In this paper, we selected the anti-cancer videos posted on Jieyin by caregivers of children with cancer as the 

research object. By using the search terms "children with cancer", "anti-leukemia children" and "childhood 

leukemia" to identify the video content pages on Jittery Voice platform, we filtered out hospital accounts, After 

filtering out hospital accounts, doctors' accounts, public welfare organizations' accounts, and irrelevant content 

such as handling and explanation, the bloggers were identified as caregivers of children with cancer, and the 

bloggers' Jitterbit accounts were observed for a long period of time (December 2022-April 2024). In order to make 

the selected sample more representative and persuasive, this paper sets criteria for secondary screening:(1) The 

number of videos posted by the blogger's account needs to be more than twenty to ensure the positivity and 

continuity of the selected sample. (2) Self-filmed and posted video content by caregivers of children with cancer. 

A total of 72 cancer child caregiver bloggers and a total of 12,065 video contents were obtained as of April 26, 

2024 after screening. It was observed that different children with cancer caregivers had different activity levels on 

Shakeology and posted different amounts of video content. Accordingly, in this paper, based on the purposive 

sampling method, 10 cancer child caregiver bloggers whose caregivers' children are in different age groups, have 

different types of cancers, and have a higher number of anticancer video contents posted on Shakeology, and have 

been used for a longer period of time, will be selected as the study subjects among the observation subjects. After 

that, all the video contents posted by the research subjects on Jieyin were captured from the first update about their 

children's cancer posted by the research subjects to the deadline of the researcher's data collection date, and 192 

valid data were obtained after data de-emphasis and cleansing. After determining the study sample, the video 

samples posted by the caregivers of children with cancer were imported into Nvivo12 software for multilevel 

coding. 

In this paper, we coded the data according to Strauss's three-process coding, starting with "open coding," in which 

the researcher used the original words of the caregivers in the videos as much as possible in order to be close to 

the original intention of the caregivers of the children with cancer. When the coding reached saturation, a second 

round of "spindle coding" was conducted to summarize the initial coding and categorize the words according to 

the content of the video to make the coding more logical. The third round of "selective coding" was conducted to 

further integrate the decentralized content into the research questions. 

3. Study Finds 

Based on the statistics of the content of the study participants' video postings, it was found that the themes of the 

video narratives posted by bloggers who are caregivers of children with cancer on the Jitterbug platform can be 

categorized into four areas: (1) documenting their child's cancer journey, (2) sharing the emotional stress associated 

with caregiving, (3) raising awareness and advocacy for childhood cancer, and (4) raising money for charity. 

3.1 Documenting Your Child's Cancer Journey 

One of the main ways in which carers of children with cancer use Jitterbug is to document the journey of the child's 

cancer treatment; although the carers do not have cancer, they experience the physical experience of cancer through 

the experience of caring for a child. In this case, the caregiver becomes the sick child's "surrogate self," standing 

in for the caregiver's own self and telling the sick child's narrative of suffering as if it were their own story (Knepper, 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 3 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

K, 2018). Carers live through different stages of treatment and celebrate milestone moments related to cancer. 

Carers make videos to share the story of their child's cancer diagnosis, updates on treatment progress, and the 

results of recent tests. For example, one caregiver described their intention to create a Shakeology account in the 

information section of their Shakeology homepage. 

Hello everyone I'm [sick child's name], 2020 was diagnosed with leukosis, three years of anti-leukodystrophy, 

relapse after one year of junction therapy, the current Hebei transplant for three months, in the anti-rejection, 

every video in the real record of the anti-leukodystrophy process, thankful to meet, like the friends to leave 

us a concern. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get it right! I'm not sure if you're a good person, but 

I'm sure you're a good person. 

Dad: [personal contact details of carer shown here] 

Carers use Jitterbug as a way to keep up-to-date information about their child's health throughout the cancer 

treatment process. Carers would share details of their child's diagnosis and treatment, upcoming appointments and 

surgeries, and their child's current treatment plan through videos on the Shakeology platform. For example, one 

caregiver recorded a video of her child on the day of his bone piercing, where the child showed nervousness before 

departing from home, and the caregiver gently reassured the child to ease the child's anxiety; after the child's bone 

piercing was over, the caregiver gave the child a thumbs-up encouraging him to be the bravest little warrior, and 

took out the toys prepared in advance to give to her child as a reward, and at the end of the video the family gave 

a thumbs-up to the camera, and the family gave a thumbs-up to the camera, and the family gave a thumbs-up to 

the camera. At the end of the video, the family gives a thumbs up to the camera, sending a message of positivity 

and optimism to netizens watching the video. Like this caregiver, caregivers use Jieyin to share updates on their 

children's health as part of the largest portion of their videos. 

Carers also share videos on Jitterbug to celebrate monumental moments in their child's cancer treatment, such as 

the anniversary of their child's cancer diagnosis, their child's birthday, and their partner's birthday. One caregiver 

shared the first anniversary of his child's diagnosis in a video in which he, as the child's father, prepared flowers 

for the child as well as the child's mother (the primary caregiver) and personally made a commemorative cake to 

celebrate this monumental occasion.The video shows many fragments of the child's journey from the diagnosis to 

the present day, with the first half of the video showing the caregiver accompanying the child for treatments, 

infusions, and looking after the child's The first half of the video shows caregivers accompanying the child for 

treatments and fluids, taking care of the child's daily routine, and the second half of the video shows him making 

a cake, preparing flowers, and everyone eating the cake together. The video received 6,138 likes and 512 comments 

in support of the caregiver organizing such a celebration. For example, the owner of the flower store saw the video 

and commented, "I should have given you guys a discount". Another commenter commented "My son grew up 

with poor health and spent many nights in tears, when things got tough, I always thought of [video maker] and it 

gave me strength again. I wish [the video maker] a sweeter and sweeter life for the family!" . 

Videos documenting the journey of a child with cancer usually present the caregiver's perspective on their child's 

and family's fight against cancer, presenting mostly events related to the disease. This type of narrative reflects the 

ongoing active observation and interpretation of the caregiver of a child with cancer. As a tool of confrontation, 

digital media, on the one hand, brings together caregivers' individual narratives of their children's life experiences 

and becomes a common mediated memory for the cancer community; on the other hand, it constructs a memory 

space for a diverse group (Xie Zhuoxia, 2020). 

3.2 Share Emotional Stress Related to Nursing 

The openness, integration and interactivity given by the Internet have significantly increased the breadth of mass 

communication and interpersonal communication, and the space constructed by it has become more and more a 

place of communication, where users can express and communicate through operations such as liking, commenting 

and retweeting, etc.; and the text, which serves as a symbol to convey meanings, has also become more and more 

a tool for users to recognize and understand. 

A child suffering from leukemia is like a bolt from the blue for the caregiver of the child, a heavy psychological 

burden and huge financial pressure comes instantly, plus accompanying the child to and from the home and the 

hospital frequently, tired of running around, not enough time for rest and relaxation, and also constantly raising 

money from all over the world. At the same time, the sick child suffers from various chemotherapy side effects 

due to intensive chemotherapy, and the caregiver is in a state of high stress physically and mentally while taking 

care of and worrying about the child, and the caregiver is facing great psychological pressure. Although family 

and friends are the objects that the caregiver can communicate with directly, the high or low family communication 

orientation (Lu, H, 2020), social alienation caused by the disease (Yang, XY, 2020), and other factors will affect 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 4 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

the caregiver's ability to communicate with the family and friends, and the caregiver will not have enough time to 

rest and relax. 2020) and other factors can affect the rate of interaction and the quality of communication between 

members, so the caregiver's emotions will not be fully and completely represented in their presence. Caregivers 

expressing these emotions through videos can help them reduce their inner pressure and avoid related 

psychological problems. At the same time, sharing their experiences on Shakeology often results in receiving 

encouraging comments from other users. 

The sick child's caregiver posted her own understanding of the disease on the Shakeyin platform, and with the 

video as the center, the information continued to spread and extend, and the degree of interaction with other users 

as a scale, forming a heterogeneous social network of strong and weak relationships, and this interactive behavior, 

in fact, also constructed a virtual interactive space. In this space, through the function of commenting, users not 

only form a direct dialogue with caregivers of sick children, but also further construct a narrative space (Chen, 

2021). 

One caregiver described it in the ShakeOut after the results of her child's bone puncture came back and she couldn't 

have a transplant but had to undergo a fourth chemo mindset: 

The mindset is really coming apart ...... 

Since [sick child's name] has been sick, she has always been optimistic and positive, because she doesn't want 

others to look at her with pity, so she shows her best side every time, and everyone thinks she is in good 

shape and doesn't look like a sick child. I myself also think that she will definitely be able to get well, but it 

is only costly and time-consuming, but it does not matter as long as she is there. 

At first in Nanchang that the conditions are not good to take her to the better Wuhan Union Medical College 

Hospital, myeloid leukemia most of the need for transplantation in order to allow her to live a normal life or 

decided to go to the preferred transplantation Lu Daopei Hospital. 

Full of hope after playing the third treatment smoothly through each bone marrow suppression period, are 

waiting for 3 treatment can be prepared for transplantation, bone penetration results came out that - moment 

of heart collapse, why ah .... 

Why is it that when everyone else has 2 treatments and 3 treatments and everything turns negative and is in 

remission and can enter a position, she doesn't quite get 4 treatments ...... 

Through this kind of emotional sharing, on the one hand, the carers' emotions can be released, and the support 

from the netizens' likes and comments and listening will give them energy and courage to continue to move forward, 

and under this kind of quasi-social relationship, the carers will feel that they are not alone in their struggle. On the 

other hand, emotional sharing posted by caregivers in social media is more emotional than specific emotional 

stories posted in traditional media, thus triggering deeper feelings among netizens. 

Therefore, by constructing their own perception of their children's pain and suffering, the caregivers symbolize 

and narrate their unique cognitive attitudes and emotional experiences, which become the basis for establishing 

group identity and emotional ties, thus creating an "emotional field". And through the emotional confession and 

communication, the pain can be effectively alleviated through "emotional sharing", and the depression in the heart 

can be dissolved. 

3.3 Childhood Cancer Awareness and Sensitization 

Through short-form video platforms, children with cancer as a group are removed from their original birthing 

space, and for viewers of this type of video, the images of sick children in videos produced by caregivers of 

children with cancer are not the same as the mysterious and plain images of children with cancer that have been 

reported in traditional media. 

In traditional media, images of children with cancer are often shaped and disseminated by media organizations, 

and the voice and control of the patients themselves may be limited. Traditional media may be more inclined to 

report on stories with specific emotional or dramatic overtones, resulting in a homogenized or stereotyped image 

of the sick child being reported on. Stories tend to be time-lagged and information may not be updated in time to 

reflect the latest situation of the sick child, and there is limited interaction between the sick child and the viewer, 

with a lack of immediate feedback and communication. The traditional media, due to the limitation of the length 

and form of the report, may express emotions superficially and lack depth. 

Compared with traditional media, caregivers on the ShakeMedia platform usually have greater autonomy and 

initiative to show their children's treatment status, and they can decide the content, format and frequency of sharing, 

thus providing a more realistic reflection of the experience of a sick child's fight against cancer. Caregivers can 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 5 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

update their children's status and treatment progress in real time, and viewers have access to the most up-to-date 

and timely information. The Jitterbug platform provides a highly interactive online environment for the caregiver 

community. On this platform, caregivers can directly interact with viewers through video comment sections or live 

streams to receive feedback and support. This highly participatory feature helps to build and strengthen the sick 

child's support network. Caregivers have the opportunity to showcase the uniqueness of the child as an individual, 

for example, by showcasing the child's drawing, dancing, singing and other specialties in the video, which removes 

the limitations of the traditional label of "child with cancer" and reveals a richer picture of the child's personal 

attributes and outlook on life. 

Carers of children with cancer often need to acquire highly specialized medical and nursing knowledge in the early 

stages of their child's diagnosis and treatment, including knowledge of the disease and treatment, and hands-on 

experience in nursing care, etc. As the caregiver's experience builds up, the caregiver will also disseminate their 

experience and knowledge of caring for their child in videos, which is important to many other families of children 

with cancer who are looking for help on media platforms. For many families of other children with cancer who 

seek help on media platforms, knowing how their "friends" are fighting cancer or the pace of treatment is very 

important to them, and when their child is diagnosed with cancer, access to information is necessary for every 

family of a child with cancer, and the Internet provides a platform for the presentation of this information. Although 

caregivers of children with cancer are not professional healthcare workers, the information, knowledge, and 

experience they provide based on their status as a caregiver of a child with cancer has a certain degree of credibility 

and persuasive power, and the information they publish is more likely to be believed by the audience. 

Because of the variety of childhood cancer diseases, different morbidity, different treatment options, and different 

disease conditions of children with cancer, ordinary viewers have little knowledge about childhood cancer. When 

caregivers post anti-cancer videos on the Shakeology platform, ordinary viewers do not know much about 

childhood leukemia and tend to ask for explanations of relevant specialized terms in the comment section of the 

videos, such as, "Why do children get leukemia? What does it mean to enter the warehouse? How long does a 

transplant take?" etc. The caregivers will popularize these questions to the viewers and raise their awareness of 

childhood cancer. 

When a child's cancer is successfully treated, the family of the child with cancer will return to the hospital where 

they were treated with gifts on holidays to visit other sick children battling the disease and give them 

encouragement and support, and they also call on more caring people in the community to care for the group of 

children with cancer and expand awareness and publicity of childhood cancer. 

3.4 Fundraiser 

Treatment of childhood cancer usually requires high costs, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, 

medication, etc., which often puts significant financial pressure on the patient and his/her family. Caregivers may 

not be able to work normally while accompanying the sick child for treatment, resulting in a decrease in overall 

family income, but basic expenses for family life and hospitalization remain, and may even increase due to the 

treatment of the sick child's disease (e.g., nutritional supplements, special care, etc.). The low threshold, easy 

readability, and wide spread of the Jitterbit platform gives caregivers of sick children the opportunity to tell their 

personal situation to the cyberspace, which enables cancer-stricken families to break through the original identity 

and spatial limitations, and to rely on the Jitterbit platform to record their lives and obtain help from caring 

members of the society. Therefore, opening an account on the ShakeMe platform to make cancer videos is one of 

the ways that many caregivers choose to alleviate their financial burdens. 

The caregiver can sell goods through the way of live broadcasting, live broadcasting is usually carried out at night, 

when the caregiver has finished a day of care life, the use of the leisure time before the rest of the live broadcast 

selling goods, the audience can support the family of the child suffering from cancer through the purchase of goods, 

this way to directly convert the traffic into economic income. During the live broadcast, viewers can also support 

the child's family by giving them virtual gifts from the platform, which the caregiver can then convert into cash. 

When a user's fan base has accumulated to a certain level, the Jieyin platform allows the user to open a 

merchandise window, where the caregiver can display the merchandise window on his or her personal 

homepage and earn income by selling the merchandise. Some caregivers will write the reason for bringing 

goods in the information section of their Jieyin personal homepage, requesting netizens to buy goods to show 

their support for the family. 

2023 mid-April lively and lovely [name of the sick child], diagnosed with leukemia, opened the sinful 

chemotherapy treatment, because of the expensive treatment costs, has spent all the savings, on the road with 

goods to save the girl, I hope that you can enter the window to look at the need to place an order, every single 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 6 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

one of your family has brought the greatest help, thank you for all the good people, good people live a peaceful 

life Thank you! 

Thank you to Shake Shack for helping the kids! 

❤ Thank you to each and every one of you who stopped by the video! 

As the number of fans increases, the caregiver's personal account may receive attention from brands (e.g., mother 

and baby brands), and the caregiver can earn income by cooperating with the brand to publish advertisement 

content.Some caregivers who have gained enough fans during the treatment of the sick child will choose to 

continue to carry goods in the form of self-publishing as their professional work after the recovery of the sick child, 

and according to the positioning of their own fan base, they will still focus on the Mother and baby and household 

goods. 

After the videos produced by some caregivers to fight cancer for sick children are noticed by local charitable 

organizations or caring people, the charitable organizations or caring people will visit the families of the sick 

children offline and give them certain material support. For example, local charitable organizations raise money 

offline for the families of the sick children and conduct fundraising activities, and caring people go to the hospital 

to accompany the sick children to do handicrafts and other activities on Children's Day and other festivals. The 

caregivers record these moments and make videos to thank the caring people or charitable organizations for their 

help. 

4. Research Limitations 

Sample limitations: although the study selected 10 caregivers of children with cancer as study participants through 

specific screening criteria and analyzed 192 videos posted by them, these samples are still limited in number and 

may not be fully representative of all caregivers of children with cancer. 

Platform homogeneity: This study focused only on the Jieyin platform and did not consider similar anti-cancer 

narrative content on other social media platforms (e.g., WeChat, Weibo, Shuttle, etc.). This limits a comprehensive 

understanding of how caregivers of children with cancer use social media to express and seek support on different 

platforms. 

Limited time horizon: the study focuses on data up to April 26, 2024, and lacks long-term tracking and follow-up 

data. Caregivers and their families may have different needs and behaviors at different stages and points in 

treatment, and these changes are difficult to capture in the short term. 

Limitations of the analytical approach: the study primarily used a qualitative coding analysis approach, and while 

this approach helped to provide an in-depth understanding of the video content, it lacked the quantitative analysis 

to support the broad applicability of the qualitative findings. 

Lack of viewer perspective:Research has focused primarily on the perspectives of caregivers of children with 

cancer, but has not delved into how viewer feedback and interactions may influence caregiver behavior and 

psychological states. Viewers' comments, private messages, and supportive approaches may have a significant 

impact on caregivers' video content and posting behaviors, and this section of the analysis is lacking. 

Ethical and privacy issues: although the study describes how caregivers shared sick children's healing journeys 

and emotional stress on the Shakeology platform, it does not discuss the ethical issues that may be involved in 

these behaviors, especially how to protect sick children's privacy and dignity in the context of sharing sensitive 

information about sick children publicly. 

These research gaps provide directions for further research in the future, such as expanding sample sizes, 

increasing platform diversity, conducting longer follow-up studies, adopting mixed methods (combining 

quantitative and qualitative), analyzing the impact of audience interactions, and delving into ethical issues. 

5. Conclusion 

By analyzing the narrative content of anti-cancer videos posted by caregivers of children with cancer on the Jieyin 

platform, this study reveals how caregivers use social media to document their child's journey through cancer, 

express emotional stress, raise public awareness of childhood cancer, and raise money for charity, among other 

functions. These videos not only demonstrate the emotional and psychological needs of caregivers of children with 

cancer during the caregiving process, but also show the important role of social media, such as Jitterbug, in 

supporting and empowering families of children with cancer. 

The study found that the Jieyin platform provides an expressive and documentary platform for caregivers of 

children with cancer to share their child's treatment process and personal experiences in a more personal and timely 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 7 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

manner. Through these videos, caregivers were not only able to gain sympathy and support from viewers, but were 

also able to leverage the platform's interactivity and broad user base to seek financial help and social support. 

These findings suggest that social media platforms play an increasingly important role in modern health 

communication, particularly in the self-presentation of patient groups and the creation of social support networks. 

However, there are some limitations in this study. For example, the study sample was limited in size, focusing 

mainly on the Jitterbug platform and failing to provide comprehensive coverage of all social media usage. In 

addition, the study data had a limited time span and lacked in-depth analysis of interactions between caregivers 

and viewers. Future research could further explore the role of social media in the lives of caregivers of children 

with cancer by expanding the sample, adding analysis of other platforms, and conducting longer follow-up studies. 

Overall, this study emphasizes the key role played by social media platforms in the community of childhood cancer 

caregivers and calls for more attention to the needs and difficulties of this particular group. It is hoped that this 

study will draw more attention from the community to families of children with cancer and promote the 

formulation of relevant policies and the provision of support services. 

References 

Murre, J. M. J., & Dros, J. (2015). Replication and analysis of Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve. PLOS ONE, 10(7), 

e0120644. 

Ni, X., Li, Z., Li, X., Zhang, X., Bai, G., Liu, Y., Zheng, R., Zhang, Y., Xu, X., Liu, Y., et al. (2022). Socioeconomic 

inequalities in cancer incidence and access to health services among children and adolescents in China: A 

cross-sectional study. The Lancet, 400(10357), 1020-1032. 

Best, M., Streisand, R., Catania, L., & Kazak, A. E. (2001). Parental distress during pediatric leukemia and 

posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after treatment ends. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26, 299-307. 

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/26.5.299 

Boman, K., Lindahl, A., & Björk, O. (2003). Disease-related distress in parents of children with cancer at various 

stages after the time of diagnosis. Acta Oncologica, 42, 137-146. 

Boman, K. D., Williams, S. M., McGee, R., & Skegg, D. C. G. (2000). Impact of childhood cancer on the mental 

health of parents. Medical and Pediatric Oncology, 35, 475-483. https://doi.org/10.1002/1096-

911X(20001101)35:5<475::AID-MPO6>3.0.CO;2-U 

Salvador, Á., Crespo, C., Martins, A. R., Santos, S., & Canavarro, M. C. (2015). Parents' perceptions about their 

child's illness in pediatric cancer: Links with caregiving burden and quality of life. Journal of Child and 

Family Studies, 24, 1129-1140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-9921-8 

Vrijmoet-Wiersma, C. M., van Klink, J. M., Kolk, A. M., Koopman, H. M., Ball, L. M., & Egeler, R. M. (2008). 

Trask, P. C., Paterson, A. G., Trask, C. L., Bares, C. B., Birt, J., & Maan, C. (2003). Parent and adolescent 

adjustment to pediatric cancer: Associations with coping, social support, and family function. Journal of 

Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 20(1), 36-47. 

Hoekstra-Weebers, J. E., Jaspers, J. P., Kamps, W. A., & Klip, E. C. (1999). Risk factors for psychological 

maladjustment of parents of children with cancer. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent 

Psychiatry, 38(12), 1526-1535. 

Hoekstra-Weebers, J. E., Wijnberg-Williams, B. J., Jaspers, J. P., Kamps, W. A., & van de Wiel, H. B. (2012). 

Coping and its effect on psychological distress of parents of pediatric cancer patients: A longitudinal 

prospective study. Psycho-Oncology, 21(8), 903-911. 

Martin, S., Calabrese, S. K., Wolters, P. L., Walker, K. A., Warren, K., & Hazra, R. (2011). Family functioning and 

coping styles in families of children with cancer and HIV disease. Clinical Pediatrics (Phila), 51(1), 58-64. 

Adams, E., Boulton, M., & Watson, E. (2009). The information needs of partners and family members of cancer 

patients: A systematic literature review. Patient Education and Counseling, 77, 179-186. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2009.03.027 

Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Englesakis, M., Rizo, C., & Stern, A. (2004). Health-related virtual communities and 

electronic support groups: Systematic review of the effects of online peer-to-peer interactions. 

Love, B., Crook, B., Thompson, C. M., Zaitchik, S., Knapp, J., LeFebvre, L., & Rechis, R. (2012). Exploring 

psychosocial support online: A content analysis of messages in an adolescent and young adult cancer 

community. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15, 555-559. 

https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0138 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 8, No. 1; 2025 

 8 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Kerr, L. M. J., Harrison, M. B., Medves, J., Tranmer, J. E., & Fitch, M. I. (2007). Understanding the supportive 

care needs of parents of children with cancer: An approach to local needs assessment. Journal of Pediatric 

Oncology Nursing, 24, 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043454207304907 

Gage, E., & Panagakis, C. (2012). The devil you know: Parents seeking support online for pediatric cancer. 

Sociology of Health & Illness, 34(3), 444-458. 

Merowitz, J. (2002). Disappearing territories: The impact of electronic media on social behavior (X. Zhijun, Trans.). 

Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. 

Simmel, G. (2002). Sociology: The study of forms of socialization. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House. 

Knepper, K. N., & Arrington, M. I. (2018). Parents' narratives in an online PHPV forum: Towards a typology of 

caregiver illness narratives. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 26(4), 316-329. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137316667594 

Xie, Z. (2020). Spring Festival Gala as memory practice: Writing, carrying, and consumption of mediated memory. 

International Journalism, 42(1), 154-176. 

Lu, H. Y., Lin, S. F., Huang, C. H., Lee, H. H., & Ma, L. C. (2020). Talk about cancer! Exploring communication 

between patients and family caregivers. Communication & Society, 51(3). 

Yang, X., Lu, L., Wang, S., et al. (2020). Research progress on social alienation in cancer survivors. Chinese 

Journal of Nursing, 55(8), 1270-1275. 

 

Copyrights 

Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. 

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 

license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 


