Currently submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 27, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Co-designing priority components of an mHealth intervention to enhance follow-up care: a qualitative study with young adult survivors of childhood cancer and healthcare providers
ABSTRACT
Background:
Survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for medical, psychological, and social late effects. To screen for their risks, receipt of consistent, cancer-specific follow-up care is crucial. Yet, less than 50% of survivors attend their aftercare and only 35% of them recognize that they could have a serious health problem. The use of mobile health (mHealth) is a promising form of intervention to educate, connect, and empower survivors of childhood cancer on the importance of follow-up care.
Objective:
Use co-design to identify the priority components to include in an mHealth intervention with young adult (18 to 39 years old) survivors of childhood cancer and healthcare providers.
Methods:
This study employed patient-oriented research methods and gathered qualitative descriptive from survivors of childhood cancer and healthcare providers. Data collected was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and verified through member checking techniques via a virtual community engagement event.
Results:
We co-facilitated with patient partners 5 virtual focus groups with 22 survivors of childhood cancer (mean age = 29.19 years, SD = 4.78). We conducted telephone interviews with 7 healthcare providers. Over 95% (n = 21) of the survivors identified as White (78% n = 35) and reported residing from 5 provinces across Canada with 79% indicating that they live in an urban community. Participants identified five priority areas to be included in an mHealth intervention: (1): Connections; (2); Education and information; (3); engagement; (4): Personalization; (5) Resources.
Conclusions:
Results from the current study has provided the necessary foundation to progress in intervention development. The next step of this multi-phased project is to build an innovative and accessible mHealth intervention prototype based on the core components identified and grounded in an established conceptual framework for co-design of mHealth. Clinical Trial: n/a
Citation
