A pilot study of the preliminary efficacy of Pain Buddy: A novel intervention for the management of children's cancer‐related pain

Abstract

Objectives Cancer‐related pain in children is prevalent and undermanaged. Mobile health (mHealth) applications provide a promising avenue to address the gap in pain management in children with cancer. Pain Buddy is a multicomponent mHealth application developed to manage cancer‐related pain in children. The goal of this paper is to present preliminary efficacy data of the impact of Pain Buddy on children's pain severity and frequency. Methods In a randomized controlled trial over 60 days, children (N = 48) reported daily pain on a tablet while receiving usual care. Those in the intervention group (N = 20) received remote symptom monitoring and skills training for pain management. Children in the attention control group (N = 28) only reported on their pain. Results Both groups experienced significant reductions in average daily pain over the study period (B = −0.10, z = −3.40, P = 0.001), with no group differences evident (z = −0.83, P = 0.40). However, the intervention group reported significantly fewer instances of moderate to severe pain compared with the control group, t(4125) = 2.67, P = 0.007. In addition, the intervention group reported no instances of moderate to severe pain toward the end of the study period. Conclusion Pain Buddy is an innovative and interactive mHealth application that aims to improve pain and symptom management among children with cancer. The findings from this pilot study suggest that Pain Buddy may aid in the reduction of pain severity in children during cancer treatment.

Design strategies for the development of mHealth services in healthcare of adolescents with cancer

“…The key features that our research detected were the following: symptom tracker, pain-related symptom tracker, communication with medical staff, adherence to treatment, information provision, social support, and coping strategies. More specifically, in this review communication with medical staff seemed to be highly important as it was the most frequently applied feature with 18 articles confirming it (4,9,10,(12)(13)(14)17,18,20,21,(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)36,39,40). Subsequently, also 17 studies included the feature of adherence to treatment (7,10-12,14-17,19,24-26,29,36,37,39,40).…”

“…Also, throughout literature there are more 14 studies encompassed the feature of information provision (4,7,9,10,12,18,21,(24)(25)(26)(27)29,36,40). Furthermore, painrelated symptom tracker was the following used feature with 13 studies confirming it (2,7,10,(12)(13)(14)(15)(17)(18)(19)(20)25,28). Also, the facility of social support was found in 13 researches (4,7,9,10,21,23-25,27,32-34,36,40).…”

“…development of executive functions) are contrasted with the indicated adherence to treatment (19). As noted by Ross et al (20) children with cancer appear to take responsibility over chemotherapy without being provided with the necessary medical supervision (20). There is evidence that non-compliance with the treatment plan could lead, on the one hand, to complications in the patient's health, and on the other hand to imminent death (20).…”

“…There is evidence that non-compliance with the treatment plan could lead, on the one hand, to complications in the patient's health, and on the other hand to imminent death (20). Specifically for AYAs with chronic diseases, relatively low compliance with medication appears to be observed, bringing them into focus on establishing innovative programs for treatment plans (20).…”

The Predictive Power of Pain Characteristics and Sleep Quality on Fatigue in Adolescents with Cancer

“…It has been used in very few studies, but it is recommended for routine use in clinical practice and research [26]. In a study in which the effectiveness of Pain Buddy was evaluated through APTT, less moderate to severe pain was experienced in the intervention group [27]. However, no study with a large pediatric population with cancer using APTT was found.…”