A Scoping Review and a Taxonomy to Assess the Impact of Mobile Apps on Cancer Care Management

Abstract

Mobile Health (mHealth) has a great potential to enhance the self-management of cancer patients and survivors. Our study aimed to perform a scoping review to evaluate the impact and trends of mobile application-based interventions on adherence and their effects on health outcomes among the cancer population. In addition, we aimed to develop a taxonomy of mobile-app-based interventions to assist app developers and healthcare researchers in creating future mHealth cancer care solutions. Relevant articles were screened from the online databases PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus, spanning the time period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2022. Of the 4135 articles initially identified, 55 were finally selected for the review. In the selected studies, breast cancer was the focus of 20 studies (36%), while mixed cancers were the subject of 23 studies (42%). The studies revealed that the usage rate of mHealth was over 80% in 41 of the 55 studies, with factors such as guided supervision, personalized suggestions, theoretical intervention foundations, and wearable technology enhancing adherence and efficacy. However, cancer progression, technical challenges, and unfamiliarity with devices were common factors that led to dropouts. We also proposed a taxonomy based on diverse theoretical foundations of mHealth interventions, delivery methods, psycho-educational programs, and social platforms. We suggest that future research should investigate, improve, and verify this taxonomy classification to enhance the design and efficacy of mHealth interventions.

Engagement With a Relaxation and Mindfulness Mobile App Among People With Cancer: Exploratory Analysis of Use Data and Self-Reports From a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Engagement rates with cancer-related digital interventions tend to be higher than in other populations, but high variability in engagement measures and intervention components and lack of a threshold for acceptable engagement make it difficult to compare findings across studies. Reviews of empirical studies using cancer-related digital interventions have reported use rates between 70% and 100% [ 64 , 65 ]. These high use rates contrast with the generally low engagement with mHealth apps reported for individuals with other health conditions [ 2 , 10 , 11 , 13 - 15 ] and suggest that people with cancer might be particularly inclined to improve their health and change certain health behaviors through mHealth apps.…”

Engagement With a Relaxation and Mindfulness Mobile App Among People With Cancer: Exploratory Analysis of Use Data and Self-Reports From a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…Engagement rates with cancer-related digital interventions tend to be higher than in other populations, but high variability in engagement measures and intervention components and lack of a threshold for acceptable engagement make it difficult to compare findings across studies. Reviews of empirical studies using cancer-related digital interventions have reported use rates between 70% and 100% [64,65]. These high use rates contrast with the generally low engagement with mHealth apps reported for individuals with other health conditions [2,10,11,[13][14][15] and suggest that people with cancer might be particularly inclined to improve their health and change certain health behaviors through mHealth apps.…”