Patient-reported impact of a digital breast cancer survivorship community in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

e13788 Background: Breast cancer survivors in conservative societies often face cultural, social, and logistical barriers to peer support and structured survivorship care. Digital platforms may mitigate these constraints while preserving cultural sensitivity. “Najia” is a professional-patient partnership initiative with a digital-first breast cancer survivorship community established over 10 years ago that has evolved into a sustainable hybrid model integrating education, peer support, advocacy, and in-person activities. We evaluated participant-reported perceptions of Najia’s core functions. Methods: An anonymous, Arabic-language survey was distributed both on-site during a "Najia" annual summit and online via a mobile web platform. The survey included seven items assessing four predefined domains: education (knowledge acquisition), support (psychological and emotional support), belonging (peer learning and sense of community), and advocacy (recommendation to others). Responses were categorical (Yes / No / I don’t know). Descriptive analyses were performed. Results: A total of 110 responses were analyzed. Most respondents identified as Najia members (90.8%), with additional respondents expressing interest in joining. Within the education domain, 98.1% reported improved knowledge related to coping with breast cancer. In the support domain, 99.1% reported receiving psychological and emotional support through Najia. Across the belonging domain, 97.2% reported benefiting from shared peer experiences, and 97.2% reported feeling part of a supportive community. Participation in Najia-organized activities, including meetups and annual summits, was associated with improved quality of life for 86.0% of respondents. In the advocacy domain, 100% of respondents indicated willingness to recommend Najia to others. Analysis of concordance across survivorship domains is shown in Table 1. Conclusions: These findings support the role of culturally adaptable, sustainable digital survivorship communities in oncology care, particularly in settings where formal survivorship infrastructure and peer support remain limited. Moreover, the high concordance across survivorship domains suggests that Najia delivers an integrated participant experience in which education, support, belonging, and advocacy are closely aligned. Concordance of key survivorship domains within the najia community. Domain pair Respondents endorsing both domains n / N (%) Interpretation Knowledge gain × Emotional support 107 / 107 (100%) Educational benefit co-occurred with perceived emotional support Emotional support × Sense of belonging 106 / 106 (100%) Emotional support and belonging were aligned Sense of belonging × Peer learning 102 / 102 (100%) Belonging overlapped with learning from peers Sense of belonging × Recommendation 106 / 106 (100%) Belonging was accompanied by advocacy intent