Trial results for a study evaluating social media outreach for Lung Cancer screening were posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2025-11-21, indicating that targeted advertisements reached 1,048,191 unique Facebook users.
Background
Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Early detection through screening, particularly for high-risk individuals, is crucial for improving outcomes. However, uptake of lung cancer screening can be suboptimal due to various barriers, including lack of awareness and perceived risk. Innovative communication strategies are needed to effectively reach at-risk populations and encourage screening. Multi-level cancer communication interventions, such as those leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, offer a potential avenue to disseminate health information and promote screening behaviors among appropriate individuals nationwide.
Trial design
The INSPIRE-Lung Study was a completed study with an enrollment of 512 participants. The study focused on individuals with Lung Cancer, specifically aiming to increase lung cancer screening uptake among appropriate, high-risk individuals. The intervention involved "LungTalk" and leveraging Facebook-targeted Advertisement (FBTA) to develop and test multi-level, cancer communication interventions. The study was not assigned a specific phase.
Key results
The trial results provided several key measurements related to the reach and effectiveness of the social media intervention:
- Reaching Screening Eligible Individuals Via Social Media - Reach: The study reported reaching 1048191 unique Facebook users who saw the advertisement.
- Reaching Screening Eligible Individuals Via Social Media - Link Clicks: There were 24816 unique clicks on the provided link by Facebook users.
- Reaching Screening Eligible Individuals Via Social Media - Impressions: The advertisement was viewed 3109482 times.
- Effectiveness of LungTalk - Knowledge Assessment:
- For the Tailored Health Communication Intervention (LungTalk) group, the mean score on a knowledge assessment scale was 4.
- For the Non-tailored Intervention group, the mean score on a knowledge assessment scale was 4.
- In another measurement for the Tailored Health Communication Intervention (LungTalk) group, the mean score on a knowledge assessment scale was 6.
- For the Non-tailored Intervention group, the mean score on a knowledge assessment scale was 6.
- Effectiveness of LungTalk - Perceived Risk:
- For the Tailored Health Communication Intervention (LungTalk) group, the mean score on a perceived risk scale was 6.
- For the Non-tailored Intervention group, the mean score on a perceived risk scale was 6.
- In another measurement for the Tailored Health Communication Intervention (LungTalk) group, the mean score on a perceived risk scale was 7.
- For the Non-tailored Intervention group, the mean score on a perceived risk scale was 7.
- Effectiveness of LungTalk - Perceived Benefits:
- For the Tailored Health Communication Intervention (LungTalk) group, the mean score on a perceived benefits scale was 20.
What this means
The posted results demonstrate the significant reach of social media platforms for public health campaigns targeting lung cancer screening. The intervention successfully reached over 1 million unique Facebook users and generated nearly 25,000 link clicks, indicating its potential to disseminate information to a large, relevant audience. The high number of impressions further underscores the visibility of the campaign. Regarding the effectiveness of LungTalk, the mean scores for knowledge assessment and perceived risk were similar between tailored and non-tailored intervention groups across different measurements, suggesting both approaches may have comparable impacts on these specific outcomes. The tailored intervention also showed a mean score of 20 for perceived benefits. These findings suggest that social media, particularly targeted advertising, can be an effective tool for broad outreach in lung cancer screening initiatives, though further analysis would be needed to understand the specific impact on screening uptake rates.
Source
The information regarding these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for the study NCT05824273, titled "The INSPIRE-Lung Study", were posted on 2025-11-21 on clinicaltrials.gov.