TY  - JOUR
AU  - Masiero, Marianna
AU  - Filipponi, Chiara
AU  - Fragale, Elisa
AU  - Pizzoli, Silvia Francesca Maria
AU  - Munzone, Elisabetta
AU  - Milani, Alessandra
AU  - Guido, Luca
AU  - Guardamagna, Vittorio
AU  - Marceglia, Sara
AU  - Prandin, Roberto
AU  - Prenassi, Marco
AU  - Caruso, Annamaria
AU  - Manzelli, Vania
AU  - Savino, Chiara
AU  - Conti, Costanza
AU  - Rizzi, Federica
AU  - Casalino, Alice
AU  - Candiani, Giulia
AU  - Memini, Francesca
AU  - Chiveri, Luca
AU  - Vitali, Andrea Luigi
AU  - Corbo, Massimo
AU  - Grasso, Roberto
AU  - Didier, Florence
AU  - Ferrucci, Roberta
AU  - Pravettoni, Gabriella
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/2/2
TI  - Support for Chronic Pain Management for Breast Cancer Survivors Through Novel Digital Health Ecosystems: Pilot Usability Study of the PainRELife Mobile App
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e51021
VL  - 8
KW  - chronic pain
KW  - eHealth
KW  - cancer
KW  - decision-making
KW  - survivorship
KW  - self-efficacy
KW  - pain
KW  - oncology
KW  - health ecosystem
KW  - health ecosystems
KW  - breast
KW  - survivor
KW  - survivors
KW  - mHealth
KW  - mobile health
KW  - app
KW  - apps
KW  - applications
KW  - MARS
AB  - Background: Chronic pain is one of the most common and critical long-term effects of breast cancer. Digital health technologies enhance the management of chronic pain by monitoring physical and psychological health status and supporting pain self-management and patient treatment decisions throughout the clinical pathway. Objective: This pilot study aims to evaluate patients’ experiences, including usability, with a novel digital integrated health ecosystem for chronic pain named PainRELife. The sample included patients with breast cancer during survivorship. The PainRELife ecosystem comprises a cloud technology platform interconnected with electronic health records and patients' devices to gather integrated health care data. Methods: We enrolled 25 patients with breast cancer (mean age 47.12 years) experiencing pain. They were instructed to use the PainRELife mobile app for 3 months consecutively. The Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) was used to evaluate usability. Furthermore, pain self-efficacy and participation in treatment decisions were evaluated. The study received ethical approval (R1597/21-IEO 1701) from the Ethical Committee of the European Institute of Oncology. Results: The MARS subscale scores were medium to high (range: 3.31-4.18), and the total app quality score was 3.90. Patients with breast cancer reported reduced pain intensity at 3 months, from a mean of 5 at T0 to a mean of 3.72 at T2 (P=.04). The total number of times the app was accessed was positively correlated with pain intensity at 3 months (P=.03). The engagement (P=.03), information (P=.04), and subjective quality (P=.007) subscales were positively correlated with shared decision-making. Furthermore, participants with a lower pain self-efficacy at T2 (mean 40.83) used the mobile app more than participants with a higher pain self-efficacy (mean 48.46; P=.057). Conclusions: The data collected in this study highlight that digital health technologies, when developed using a patient-driven approach, might be valuable tools for increasing participation in clinical care by patients with breast cancer, permitting them to achieve a series of key clinical outcomes and improving quality of life. Digital integrated health ecosystems might be important tools for improving ongoing monitoring of physical status, psychological burden, and socioeconomic issues during the cancer survivorship trajectory. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/41216 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2024/1/e51021
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/51021
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38306176
DO  - 10.2196/51021
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/51021
ER  -