Lally Phillippa, May Christine N, Mitchell E Siobhan, McCallum Meaghan, Michaelides Andreas, Fisher Abigail
School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Academic Research, Noom Inc, New York, NY, United States.
JMIR Cancer. 2024 Dec 20;10:e48170. doi: 10.2196/48170.
Accessible self-management interventions are required to support people living with breast cancer.
This was an industry-academic partnership study that aimed to collect qualitative user experience data of a prototype app with built-in peer and coach support designed to support the management of health behaviors and weight in women living with breast cancer.
Participants were aged ≥18 years, were diagnosed with breast cancer of any stage within the last 5 years, had completed active treatment, and were prescribed oral hormone therapy. Participants completed demographic surveys and were asked to use the app for 4 weeks. Following this, they took part in in-depth qualitative interviews about their experiences. These were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Eight participants (mean age, 45 years; mean time since diagnosis, 32 months) were included. Of the 8 participants, 7 (88%) were white, 6 (75%) had a graduate degree or above, and 6 (75%) had stage I-III breast cancer. Four overarching themes were identified: (1) Support for providing an app earlier in the care pathway; (2) Desire for more weight-focused content tailored to the breast cancer experience; (3) Tracking of health behaviors that are generally popular; and (4) High value of in-app social support.
This early user experience work showed that women with breast cancer found an app with integrated social and psychological support appealing to receive support for behavior change and weight management or self-management. However, many features were recommended for further development. This work is the first step in an academic-industry collaboration that would ultimately aim to develop and empirically test a supportive app that could be integrated into the cancer care pathway.
需要有可获取的自我管理干预措施来支持乳腺癌患者。
这是一项行业与学术合作的研究，旨在收集一款原型应用程序的定性用户体验数据，该应用程序内置同伴和教练支持功能，旨在支持乳腺癌女性的健康行为管理和体重管理。
参与者年龄≥18岁，在过去5年内被诊断为任何阶段的乳腺癌，已完成积极治疗，并被开具口服激素治疗药物。参与者完成了人口统计学调查，并被要求使用该应用程序4周。在此之后，他们参与了关于自身经历的深入定性访谈。使用主题分析法对这些访谈进行了分析。
纳入了8名参与者（平均年龄45岁；平均确诊时间32个月）。在这8名参与者中，7名（88%）为白人，6名（75%）拥有研究生学位或以上学历，6名（75%）患有I - III期乳腺癌。确定了四个总体主题：（1）支持在护理路径中更早地提供应用程序；（2）渴望有更多针对乳腺癌经历量身定制的以体重为重点的内容；（3）对普遍流行的健康行为进行跟踪；（4）应用程序内社交支持的高价值。
这项早期用户体验工作表明，患有乳腺癌的女性发现一款具有综合社会和心理支持功能的应用程序，对于获得行为改变、体重管理或自我管理方面的支持具有吸引力。然而，许多功能被建议进一步开发。这项工作是产学合作的第一步，最终目标是开发并通过实证测试一款可整合到癌症护理路径中的支持性应用程序。
