Voices Beyond the Clinic: Digital Storytelling, Identity, and Agency in Persian Cancer Discourse

This study examines the ways in which Persian-speaking cancer patients discursively articulate their illness experiences on social media, with particular attention to X. Using a curated dataset of 1,617 posts written by individuals who self-identify as cancer patients, the research applies sentiment analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling to investigate affective orientations and thematic structures in patient-generated narratives. The analysis identifies twelve prominent themes—including treatment trajectories, emotional and psychological well-being, systemic obstacles, and personal empowerment—each exhibiting distinctive sentiment patterns. While expressions of resilience and solidarity tend to be accompanied by positive sentiments, negative emotions frequently converge around stigma, financial strain, and institutional inadequacies. The findings demonstrate how patients employ digital storytelling to enact empowered illness identities, cultivate peer support, and critique healthcare inequities. The study further considers the use of metaphorical language, fabricated illness claims, and institutional disinformation efforts, underscoring the ethical complexities inherent in digital health research. By engaging both the agentive and contested facets of online cancer discourse, this work advances broader understandings of narrative agency, emotional labor, and the sociopolitical implications of health communication in digitally mediated environments.