Zenone Marco A, Snyder Jeremy, Crooks Valorie A
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada.
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada.
J Cannabis Res. 2021 May 6;3(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s42238-021-00069-x.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is commonly used to manage symptoms in conditions and diseases for which there is limited clinical research for its application. How consumers arrive and decide to use CBD for medical treatment, despite lacking clinical evidence, is largely unknown. In this paper, we seek to identify the informational pathways through which consumers arrive at CBD for medical purposes.
GoFundMe.com campaigns fundraising to purchase CBD between June 2017 and May 2019 were collected using the Crowdfunding for Health Research Portal (CHRP). Product descriptions were thematically analyzed to determine pathways leading to incorporation of CBD into medical treatment. Campaign characteristics such as fundraising ask, funding received, location, campaign title, description, Facebook shares, and number of donors were recorded. Specific medical uses of CBD proposed in campaigns were tabulated.
The study identified 164 crowdfunding campaigns primarily from the USA (n=159), with several from Canada (n=5). The campaigns requested $2,219,284.24 (median, $7000) and raised $610,612.87 (median, $1805) from 6825 donors (median, 26). Many campaigns asked for other treatments or illness-related costs not specific to CBD. The campaigns were shared 42,299 times on Facebook (median, 156 shares). Three informational pathways were identified leading to incorporation of CBD into medical treatment, which were self-directed research (n=149), recommendations from a trusted care provider (n=36), and/or experiential insights shared by someone associated with or influencing the crowdfunders personal network (n=30). The proposed uses of CBD were for cancer (n=96), seizure-inducing diseases/conditions (n=48), other/unspecified (n=6), joint/inflammatory diseases (n=6), mental health disorders (n=3), nervous system diseases (n=3), and autoimmune diseases (n=2).
Our results suggest that consumers crowdfunding come to CBD through internally motivated reasons versus exposure to advertisements or other forms of marketing. Campaign beneficiaries generally had an unmet medical need that other forms of treatment were not satisfying. Then, through one or more of the informational pathways identified, CBD is considered a potential solution.
大麻二酚（CBD）常用于管理一些疾病的症状，然而针对其应用的临床研究有限。尽管缺乏临床证据，但消费者如何开始并决定使用CBD进行医学治疗在很大程度上尚不清楚。在本文中，我们试图确定消费者出于医学目的使用CBD的信息获取途径。
使用健康研究众筹门户（CHRP）收集了2017年6月至2019年5月期间在GoFundMe.com上为购买CBD进行筹款的活动。对产品描述进行主题分析，以确定导致CBD被纳入医学治疗的途径。记录活动的特征，如筹款请求金额、收到的资金、地点、活动标题、描述、脸书分享次数和捐赠者数量。将活动中提出的CBD的具体医学用途制成表格。
该研究确定了164个众筹活动，主要来自美国（n = 159），还有几个来自加拿大（n = 5）。这些活动请求的资金为2,219,284.24美元（中位数为7000美元），从6825名捐赠者（中位数为26名）那里筹集到610,612.87美元（中位数为1805美元）。许多活动还请求提供其他并非专门针对CBD的治疗或与疾病相关的费用。这些活动在脸书上被分享了42,299次（中位数为156次分享）。确定了导致CBD被纳入医学治疗的三条信息获取途径，分别是自主研究（n = 149）、来自可信赖医疗服务提供者的推荐（n = 36）和/或与众筹者个人网络相关或有影响力的人分享的经验见解（n = 30）。活动中提出的CBD的用途包括癌症（n = 96）、引发癫痫的疾病/病症（n = 48）、其他/未明确的（n = 6）、关节/炎症性疾病（n = 6）、精神健康障碍（n = 3）、神经系统疾病（n = 3）和自身免疫性疾病（n = 2）。
我们的结果表明，进行众筹的消费者是出于内在动机而选择CBD，而非受到广告或其他营销形式的影响。活动受益者通常有未满足的医疗需求，而其他形式的治疗无法满足这些需求。然后，通过确定的一条或多条信息获取途径，CBD被视为一种潜在的解决方案。
