TY  - JOUR
AU  - Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid
AU  - Davis, Sharon Watkins
AU  - Kurian, Allison
AU  - Rosas, Lisa G
AU  - Daniels, Jena
AU  - Palesh, Oxana Gronskaya
AU  - Mesia, Rachel J
AU  - Kamal, Arif H
AU  - Longmire, Michelle
AU  - Divi, Vasu
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/8/13
TI  - Development of a Mobile Health App (TOGETHERCare) to Reduce Cancer Care Partner Burden: Product Design Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e22608
VL  - 5
IS  - 8
KW  - cancer
KW  - oncology
KW  - mHealth
KW  - caregiver
KW  - cancer survivor
KW  - mobile app
KW  - smartphone
KW  - feasibility
KW  - caregiver burden
KW  - symptom reporting
AB  - Background: Approximately 6.1 million adults in the United States serve as care partners for cancer survivors. Studies have demonstrated that engaging cancer survivors and their care partners through technology-enabled structured symptom collection has several benefits. Given the high utilization of mobile technologies, even among underserved populations and in low resource areas, mobile apps may provide a meaningful access point for all stakeholders for symptom management. Objective: We aimed to develop a mobile app incorporating user preferences to enable cancer survivors’ care partners to monitor the survivors’ health and to provide care partner resources. Methods: An iterative information gathering process was conducted that included (1) discussions with 138 stakeholders to identify challenges and gaps in survivor home care; (2) semistructured interviews with clinicians (n=3), cancer survivors (n=3), and care partners (n=3) to identify specific needs; and (3) a 28-day feasibility field test with seven care partners. Results: Health professionals noted the importance of identifying early symptoms of adverse events. Survivors requested modules on medication, diet, self-care, reminders, and a version in Spanish. Care partners preferred to focus primarily on the patient’s health and not their own. The app was developed incorporating quality-of-life surveys and symptom reporting, as well as resources on home survivor care. Early user testing demonstrated ease of use and app feasibility. Conclusions: TOGETHERCare, a novel mobile app, was developed with user input to track the care partner’s health and report on survivor symptoms during home care. The following two clinical benefits emerged: (1) reduced anxiety among care partners who use the app and (2) the potential for identifying survivor symptoms noted by the care partner, which might prevent adverse events. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04018677; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04018677 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2021/8/e22608
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/22608
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34398787
DO  - 10.2196/22608
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/22608
ER  -