East Carolina University, USA.
University of Wisconsin, USA.
Health Informatics J. 2020 Dec;26(4):2892-2905. doi: 10.1177/1460458220950853. Epub 2020 Aug 25.
The use of mobile technology and mobile apps has become pervasive in our daily lives for completing a variety of daily tasks. Mobile health (mHealth) apps can provide an accessible platform for self-management among breast cancer (BC) survivors, as they recover from not just the intensive cancer treatments, but also their associated side-effects. They also offer a means to learn about survivorship topics and connect with peer survivors online, irrespective of their geographical location. This study is an attempt to assess the availability and characterize the self-management features of free mobile apps for breast cancer survivors on the Google Play (Android) and Apple App Store (iOS). Out of 249 such apps for the Android, only eight satisfied initial criteria, while only one of 174 iOS apps that met inclusion criteria was included for further analysis. A content analysis of the nine apps that met inclusion criteria was conducted to assess the inclusion of the following mHealth self-management features derived from the Chronic Care Model: symptom tracking; survivorship education; information-sharing with family and/or caregivers; scheduling follow-up visits; personal alerts and reminders; and social networking. Survivorship education was found to be the most common self-management feature among the apps reviewed, followed by social networking. The results of this study highlight the dearth of available mHealth resources for BC survivors. Future efforts in app development should involve survivors and healthcare providers to ensure comprehensive resources that address their unmet needs are made more accessible.
移动技术和移动应用在我们的日常生活中已经无处不在，用于完成各种日常任务。移动健康 (mHealth) 应用程序可以为乳腺癌 (BC) 幸存者提供一个便于自我管理的平台，因为他们不仅要从密集的癌症治疗中恢复，还要从相关的副作用中恢复。它们还提供了一种学习生存主题和与在线同龄幸存者联系的方式，无论他们的地理位置如何。本研究旨在评估 Google Play（Android）和 Apple App Store（iOS）上免费供乳腺癌幸存者使用的移动应用程序的可用性，并对其自我管理功能进行特征描述。在 249 个适用于 Android 的此类应用程序中，只有 8 个满足初始标准，而在满足纳入标准的 174 个 iOS 应用程序中，只有 1 个被纳入进一步分析。对符合纳入标准的九个应用程序进行了内容分析，以评估以下源自慢性病护理模型的 mHealth 自我管理功能的纳入情况：症状跟踪；生存教育；与家人和/或照顾者共享信息；安排随访；个人提醒和提醒；以及社交网络。在审查的应用程序中，生存教育是最常见的自我管理功能，其次是社交网络。本研究的结果突出了 BC 幸存者可用的 mHealth 资源的匮乏。未来的应用程序开发工作应涉及幸存者和医疗保健提供者，以确保更方便地获得解决他们未满足需求的综合资源。
