The article uses the concept of online self-disclosure and examines whether TikTok videos reveal information similar to what is reported in existing research on social media within this field. In addition, the study aims to identify the creators’ motivations and the meanings they attribute to disclosing cancer and asks whether this disclosure challenges or supports the concept of a positive culture defined within the online self-disclosure framework. While similar research typically focuses on posts and is thus limited, this study combines conventional content analysis of 862 videos with in-depth interviews, offering a more nuanced understanding of the users’ lived experience. The findings highlight that TikTok is a platform for negative (e.g., fears, anxiety) and positive self-disclosure (e.g., joyful life events, self-acceptance). What is crucial, though, is that users feel exceedingly competent in educating others. The research debunks positive culture as an overly general category and undermines the traditional understanding of online self-disclosure. It reveals that seeking support is less important for patients than informing and warning others. By focusing on the educational meanings attributed to self-disclosure, this study enriches the body of research on cancer-related content shared on TikTok, including studies on low-quality cancer-related information.

中文翻译：

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在 TikTok 上进行癌症教育：扩大癌症患者的在线自我披露


本文使用在线自我披露的概念，探讨 TikTok 视频是否披露了与该领域社交媒体现有研究报告类似的信息。此外，该研究旨在确定创作者的动机以及他们披露癌症的意义，并询问这种披露是否挑战或支持在线自我披露框架内定义的积极文化的概念。虽然类似的研究通常集中在帖子上，因此受到限制，但本研究将 862 个视频的传统内容分析与深度访谈相结合，提供了对用户生活体验的更细致的了解。研究结果强调，TikTok 是一个消极（例如恐惧、焦虑）和积极自我表露（例如快乐的生活事件、自我接纳）的平台。但最重要的是，用户感觉自己非常有能力教育他人。该研究揭穿了积极文化作为一个过于笼统的类别的事实，并破坏了对在线自我表露的传统理解。它表明，对于患者来说，寻求支持并不比告知和警告他人更重要。通过关注自我表露的教育意义，这项研究丰富了 TikTok 上分享的癌症相关内容的研究主体，包括对低质量癌症相关信息的研究。