{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-patient-community-moderators","kind":"idea","name":"Trained moderators with evidence tools in online patient communities","aka":[],"tldr":"Online patient groups are where much cancer advice is exchanged. Fund and train moderators, with quick access to reliable evidence, to keep those spaces accurate and kind.","summary":"Facebook groups, forums and messaging groups are primary information sources for many patients and are where unproven therapies spread peer to peer. The proposal is a programme funding patient organisations to train volunteer moderators in evidence appraisal and compassionate correction, provide them with a rapid clinician back-channel and a curated evidence library, and measure the prevalence of unproven claims in moderated versus unmoderated groups.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Misinformation and unproven therapies): Johnson et al., Cancer misinformation and harmful information on Facebook and other social media (JNCI 2022)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab141"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-misinformation","b-patient-voice"],"keyPapers":["paper-johnson-j-natl-cancer-inst"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Trained moderation reduces the prevalence and persistence of unproven therapy claims in participating communities by half without reducing engagement.","rationale":"Peers are trusted; equipping them beats external correction. Online communities in other health areas have shown moderation shifts norms.","test":"Randomise willing communities to the programme or waitlist; content analysis of claims and engagement over six months.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"small","horizonYears":1},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-patient-community-moderators/","neighbours":{"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-misinformation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Misinformation and unproven therapies","route":"/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/"},{"id":"b-patient-voice","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency","route":"/bottlenecks/b-patient-voice/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-johnson-j-natl-cancer-inst","kind":"paper","name":"Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report","route":"/key-papers/paper-johnson-j-natl-cancer-inst/"}]}}