Teckie Sewit, Solomon Jeffrey, Kadapa Karthik, Sanchez Keisy, Orner David, Kraus Dennis, Kamdar Dev P, Pereira Lucio, Frank Douglas, Diefenbach Michael
Academic Department of Radiation Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, NY, United States.
Department of Radiation Medicine, Northwell Health Cancer Institute, Lake Success, NY, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2021 Mar 19;5(3):e24667. doi: 10.2196/24667.
Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) frequently experience disease-related symptoms and treatment adverse effects that impact their overall quality of life. Cancer-specific mobile health apps for patient-related outcomes allow patients to communicate with their clinicians and proactively track their symptoms, which have been shown to improve clinical management and disease outcomes.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of LogPAL, a novel iPhone-based mobile health app designed to help HNC survivors track and manage their posttreatment symptoms.
Patients who completed curative treatment for HNC in the preceding 24 months were recruited from 2 clinical sites within a single institution. Upon enrollment, participants completed a brief sociodemographic survey, downloaded the app onto their iPhone devices, and were asked to complete a series of biweekly questionnaires (based on the Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events) via the app for an 8-week study period. The primary feasibility endpoints included retention (retaining >80% of the enrolled participants for the duration of the study period), adherence (>50% of the participants completing 100% of the questionnaires over the study period), and usability (a mean system usability scale [SUS] score >68). Additional postintervention questions were collected to assess perceived usefulness, acceptance, and overall satisfaction.
Between January and October 2019, 38 participants were enrolled in the study. Three participants dropped out, and 3 were classified as nonusers. The remaining 32 (87%) were eligible for analysis. Their mean age was 57.8 (SD 12.3) years (range 24-77 years, 81% [26/32] male). Overall, 375 of 512 (73.2%) questionnaires were completed, with 17 (53%) of the 32 participants adherent. Participant-reported usability was acceptable; the mean SUS score was 71.9 (95% CI 64.3-79.5) with high satisfaction of LogPAL usefulness and likelihood to recommend to other cancer survivors.
This single-arm prospective pilot study showed that LogPAL is a feasible, regularly used, accepted app for HNC survivors, justifying a full-scale pilot. Based on the findings from this study, future iterations will aim to improve usability and test intervention efficacy.
头颈癌（HNC）患者经常经历与疾病相关的症状和治疗副作用，这些会影响他们的整体生活质量。针对患者相关结局的癌症专用移动健康应用程序使患者能够与临床医生沟通，并主动跟踪自己的症状，这已被证明可改善临床管理和疾病结局。
本研究的目的是评估LogPAL的可行性，LogPAL是一款基于iPhone的新型移动健康应用程序，旨在帮助HNC幸存者跟踪和管理其治疗后的症状。
在单个机构内的2个临床地点招募了在过去24个月内完成HNC根治性治疗的患者。入组时，参与者完成了一份简短的社会人口统计学调查，将应用程序下载到他们的iPhone设备上，并被要求在为期8周的研究期间通过该应用程序完成一系列每两周一次的问卷调查（基于患者报告的不良事件通用术语标准版本）。主要可行性终点包括留存率（在研究期间留存>80%的入组参与者）、依从性（>50%的参与者在研究期间完成100%的问卷）和可用性（平均系统可用性量表[SUS]得分>68）。收集了额外的干预后问题，以评估感知有用性、接受度和总体满意度。
2019年1月至10月期间，38名参与者入组本研究。3名参与者退出，3名被归类为非用户。其余32名（87%）符合分析条件。他们的平均年龄为57.8（标准差12.3）岁（范围24 - 77岁，81%[26/32]为男性）。总体而言，512份问卷中的375份（73.2%）被完成，32名参与者中有17名（53%）依从。参与者报告的可用性是可接受的；平均SUS得分为71.9（95%置信区间64.3 - 79.5），对LogPAL的有用性满意度高，且很有可能推荐给其他癌症幸存者。
这项单臂前瞻性试点研究表明，LogPAL对于HNC幸存者来说是一款可行、经常使用且被接受的应用程序，为全面试点提供了依据。基于本研究的结果，未来的迭代将旨在提高可用性并测试干预效果。
