{ "abstract": "Background\n\nLittle is known about the composition and function of the social networks of adolescent and young adult survivors of cancer, despite the importance of social health for adolescent and young adult development. For adolescent and young adult survivors of cancer, social networks may be particularly important sources of support and coping. Understanding this group's social health through understanding their social networks can inform intervention development to improve various facets of health and life productivity.Objective\n\nThe objective of this descriptive study was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of collecting and analyzing social network data using the Network Canvas platform among a subset of adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.Methods\n\nWe used cognitive interviewing, a qualitative method to assess survey comprehension and usability, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using the Network Canvas social network data collection platform among 10 adolescent and young adult survivors of cancer. Participants (ie, egos) were asked about people (ie, alters) in their networks before cancer diagnosis (via recall) and currently (after cancer diagnosis). Feasibility was explored in three ways: (1) the proportion of participants who completed the full Network Canvas survey; (2) qualitative analysis of cognitive interviews addressing usability and comprehension; and (3) demonstration of whether self-administered, role-anonymized responses yielded data complete enough to support the creation of standard egocentric network measures through preliminary descriptive statistics. Acceptability was explored through qualitative analysis of the desire of participants to use Network Canvas again and features they liked when using Network Canvas.Results\n\nIn terms of feasibility, all 10 participants completed the Network Canvas survey. In qualitative analysis, participants described the ease of using Network Canvas (including engagement) while also describing ways to improve its usability. In terms of acceptability, when asked if they would use Network Canvas again, participants overall answered positively.Conclusions\n\nNetwork Canvas use among our sample of adolescent and young adult survivors of cancer was feasible and acceptable based on this exploratory analysis. The collection and analysis of social network data using Network Canvas was feasible in this pilot study. Additionally, the potentially therapeutic experience reported by some participants after completing the Network Canvas survey deserves further exploration. This work provides a starting point for future social health studies, psychosocial programming, and identification of those at risk of social disconnect.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Department of Pediatrics, Penn State College of Medicine, 700 HMC Crescent Road, Hershey, PA, 17033, United States, 1 7175316012.", "Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States.", "Department of Pediatrics, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.", "Department of Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States.", "Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States.", "Kolschowsky Research & Education Institute, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, Sarasota, FL, United States.", "Center for Computational and Social Sciences in Health, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States." ], "article_type": "research article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 15, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Pooja Rao", "orcid": "0000-0001-7968-3286" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Ian Rowe-Nicholls" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Gabrielle Lang", "orcid": "0009-0006-1557-3532" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Tabitha Chen", "orcid": "0009-0006-1943-2788" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Ashton Verdery", "orcid": "0000-0003-1005-7580" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Laura Koehly", "orcid": "0000-0003-4588-2898" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Erika VanDyke", "orcid": "0000-0001-5681-364X" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Heather Costigan", "orcid": "0000-0002-2009-277X" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Deepa Sekhar", "orcid": "0000-0002-5784-7216" }, { "affs": [ 4 ], "name": "Kristin Bingen", "orcid": "0000-0002-2481-2826" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Smita Dandekar", "orcid": "0000-0001-9410-1248" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Christina Toepke", "orcid": "0000-0002-6604-1767" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Tonya King", "orcid": "0000-0003-4989-5653" }, { "affs": [ 6 ], "name": "Michelle Birkett", "orcid": "0000-0003-0960-6327" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Lauren Van Scoy", "orcid": "0000-0003-0984-1474" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60x160pess1k7.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.2196/91765", "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13722095", "id": "60x160pess1k7", "issns": [ "2561-326X" ], "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42962074", "language": "eng", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "heading", "Cancer Survivorship" ], [ "heading", "Children and Young People With Cancer, Pediatric Oncology" ], [ "heading", "Digital Mental Health Interventions, e-Mental Health and Cyberpsychology" ], [ "heading", "Medicine 2.0: Social Media, Open, Participatory, Collaborative Medicine" ], [ "heading", "Original Paper" ], [ "heading", "Pilot Studies (Ehealth)" ], [ "heading", "Social Media in Adolescence" ], [ "lcc", "R" ], [ "openalex", "3312|Survey Methodology and Nonresponse" ] ], "openalex": "W7212367645", "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13722095?pdf=render", "pmcid": "PMC13722095", "pmid": "42962074", "published": "2026-10-01", "publisher": "JMIR Publications Inc.", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60x160pess1k7.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-11-02T03:21:21Z", "native_id": "MED:42962074", "source": "europepmc", "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42962074" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:22:40Z", "native_id": "PMC13722095", "source": "pmc", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2196/91765" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-07T14:21:03Z", "native_id": "ae5814e94699464ab6710064acf19f26", "source": "doaj", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2196/91765" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "medicine", "origin": "lcc:R", "subfield": "general" } ], "title": "Using Cognitive Interviewing to Assess the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Network Canvas Platform for Social Network Data Collection Among Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Cancer: Pilot Descriptive Study.", "title_text": "Using Cognitive Interviewing to Assess the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Network Canvas Platform for Social Network Data Collection Among Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Cancer: Pilot Descriptive Study.", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-11-08T14:20:31Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/60x160pess1k7", "venue": "JMIR formative research", "versions": [] }