Mobile Phone Apps for Quality of Life and Well-Being Assessment in Breast and Prostate Cancer Patients: Systematic Review

Abstract

BackgroundMobile phone health apps are increasingly gaining attention in oncological care as potential tools for supporting cancer patients. Although the number of publications and health apps focusing on cancer is increasing, there are still few specifically designed for the most prevalent cancers diagnosed: breast and prostate cancers. There is a need to review the effect of these apps on breast and prostate cancer patients’ quality of life (QoL) and well-being.ObjectiveThe purposes of this study were to review the scientific literature on mobile phone apps targeting breast or prostate cancer patients and involving QoL and well-being (anxiety and depression symptoms) and analyze the clinical and technological characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of these apps, as well as patients’ user experience with them.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature from The Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and MEDLINE to identify studies involving apps focused on breast and/or prostate cancer patients and QoL and/or well-being published between January 1, 2000, and July 12, 2017. Only trial studies which met the inclusion criteria were selected. The systematic review was completed with a critical analysis of the apps previously identified in the health literature research that were available from the official app stores.ResultsThe systematic review of the literature yielded 3862 articles. After removal of duplicates, 3229 remained and were evaluated on the basis of title and abstract. Of these, 3211 were discarded as not meeting the inclusion criteria, and 18 records were selected for full text screening. Finally, 5 citations were included in this review, with a total of 644 patients, mean age 52.16 years. Four studies targeted breast cancer patients and 1 focused on prostate cancer patients. Four studies referred to apps that assessed QoL. Only 1 among the 5 analyzed apps was available from the official app store. In 3 studies, an app-related intervention was carried out, and 2 of them reported an improvement on QoL. The lengths of the app-related interventions varied from 4 to 12 weeks. Because 2 of the studies only tracked use of the app, no effect on QoL or well-being was found.ConclusionsDespite the existence of hundreds of studies involving cancer-focused mobile phone apps, there is a lack of rigorous trials regarding the QoL and/or well-being assessment in breast and/or prostate cancer patients. A strong and collective effort should be made by all health care providers to determine those cancer-focused apps that effectively represent useful, accurate, and reliable tools for cancer patients’ disease management.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42017073069; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.asp?ID= CRD42017073069 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6v38Clb9T)

Systematic review of technology‐based interventions to improve anxiety, depression, and health‐related quality of life among patients with prostate cancer

“…Neither did we find evidence about participants' health outcomes being related to their use of TBIs (eg, completed all TBI sessions, discontinued use, or completed sessions over time). Our findings are consistent with the results from a previous systematic review of TBIs that showed that little studies monitored intervention dose (number of log on and website exploration) and its influence on HRQoL among breast and prostate cancer patients . Maintaining intervention use over time during study is a major moderator of TBI effectiveness and is likely to influence participants' long‐term health outcomes .…”

“…Psychosocial and behavioral care delivered using technology‐based interventions (TBIs) has the potential to provide cost‐effective psychosocial care services to a large number of cancer patients and their families, to facilitate engagement in survivorship care, and to reduce the fear of stigma related to attending mental health services . Frequently used TBIs include web‐based programs, mobile apps, telehealth communication, and monitoring sensors to enhance individualized health care .…”

“…Frequently used TBIs include web‐based programs, mobile apps, telehealth communication, and monitoring sensors to enhance individualized health care . Although TBIs can be scalable to improve the psychological well‐being and HRQoL among prostate cancer patients and meet their survivorship care needs, little is known about the characteristics and effectiveness of TBIs on anxiety, depression, and HRQoL among patients with prostate cancer . The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the characteristics of TBIs and their effectiveness on anxiety, depression, and HRQoL among patients with prostate cancer.…”

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The Impact of a Maternal Education Program Through Text Messaging in Rural China: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…In recent years, attempts have been made to use mobile phone text messaging to achieve positive results for a range of health issues including treatment management and adherence (3)(4)(5), quality of life and well-being assessment (6), weight management (7,8), suicide prevention (9), smoking cessation (10), and other public health issues (11,12). Attempts have also been made to use mobile phone text messaging to address issues related to maternal and child health including interventions to support post-abortion contraception (13), infertility treatment (14), lactation management (15), and infant feeding (16).…”