University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Community Health and Sustainability, Lowell, MA, United States.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2016 May 30;4(2):e69. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.5361.
Rapid developments in technology have encouraged the use of mobile phones in smoking cessation, promoting healthy diet, nutrition, and physical activity, sun safety, and cancer screening. Although many apps relating to the prevention of cancer and other chronic diseases are available from major mobile phone platforms, relatively few have been tested in research studies to determine their efficacy.
In this paper, we discuss issues related to the development and testing of new apps for preventing cancer through smoking cessation, sun safety, and other healthy behaviors, including key methodologic issues and outstanding challenges.
An exploratory literature review was conducted using bibliographic searches in PubMed and CINAHL with relevant search terms (eg, smartphones, smoking cessation, cancer prevention, cancer screening, and carcinogens) to identify papers published in English through October 2015.
Only 4 randomized controlled trials of the use of mobile phone apps for smoking cessation and 2 trials of apps for sun safety were identified, indicating that it is premature to conduct a systematic search and meta-analysis of the published literature on this topic.
Future studies should utilize randomized controlled trial research designs, larger sample sizes, and longer study periods to better establish the cancer prevention and control capabilities of mobile phone apps. In developing new and refined apps for cancer prevention and control, both health literacy and eHealth literacy should be taken into account. There is a need for culturally appropriate, tailored health messages to increase knowledge and awareness of health behaviors such as smoking cessation, cancer screening, and sun safety. Mobile phone apps are likely to be a useful and low-cost intervention for preventing cancer through behavioral changes.
技术的快速发展鼓励在戒烟、促进健康饮食、营养和体育活动、防晒和癌症筛查中使用手机。虽然许多与预防癌症和其他慢性病有关的应用程序可从主要的手机平台获得，但相对较少的应用程序在研究中进行测试以确定其功效。
在本文中，我们讨论了通过戒烟、防晒和其他健康行为预防癌症的新应用程序的开发和测试相关的问题，包括关键的方法学问题和突出的挑战。
使用 PubMed 和 CINAHL 中的文献检索，使用相关搜索词（如智能手机、戒烟、癌症预防、癌症筛查和致癌物质）进行探索性文献综述，以确定截至 2015 年 10 月以英文发表的论文。
仅确定了 4 项关于使用手机应用程序戒烟和 2 项关于防晒应用程序的随机对照试验，这表明对该主题的已发表文献进行系统搜索和荟萃分析还为时过早。
未来的研究应利用随机对照试验研究设计、更大的样本量和更长的研究期，以更好地确定手机应用程序在癌症预防和控制方面的能力。在开发新的和改进的癌症预防和控制应用程序时，应考虑健康素养和电子健康素养。需要针对不同文化背景、量身定制的健康信息，以提高对健康行为（如戒烟、癌症筛查和防晒）的知识和认识。手机应用程序可能是通过行为改变预防癌症的一种有用且低成本的干预措施。
