None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study aims to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel mobile phone app for the monitoring and management of symptoms in children with cancer. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a parent or caregiver of a child cancer patient aged 2-18 years currently receiving active treatment for blood cancer or solid tumors, and you have access to a smartphone. Active treatment for cancer is defined as receiving either planned cycles of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Study details All participants who choose to enrol in this study will be asked to download an app to their phone that will enable the child's parent or caregiver to enter information regarding their current symptoms related to cancer. Participants will be asked to provide information every week via the app, it is anticipated that this will take 5-10 minutes each day. It is hoped this research will demonstrate that use of a mobile app to monitor symptoms is easy to use and acceptable to cancer patients and their caregivers. The app could then be used to help improve health outcomes for future cancer patients by giving them more control over their symptoms, as well as providing options for better management of their symptoms.
Interventions
Symptom monitoring through completion of the SSPedi Patient Reported Outcome Measure using a mobile phone application weekly for eight weeks. The intervention is delivered and managed by clinical nursing teams using a patient dashboard. Notifications are sent weekly via the clinical dashboard to enrolled participants, requesting them to complete the SSPedi measure. Up to two reminder notifications are sent after 24 and 48 hours if SSPedi is not completed. Each completion of SSPedi take appro
Symptom monitoring through completion of the SSPedi Patient Reported Outcome Measure using a mobile phone application weekly for eight weeks. The intervention is delivered and managed by clinical nursing teams using a patient dashboard. Notifications are sent weekly via the clinical dashboard to enrolled participants, requesting them to complete the SSPedi measure. Up to two reminder notifications are sent after 24 and 48 hours if SSPedi is not completed. Each completion of SSPedi take approximately 10 minutes to complete and review the recommendations. The intervention therefore is anticipated to take 1 x 10 minutes of app use each weeks for 8 weeks. Upon completion of SSPedi, stratified alerts based upon pre-defined algorithms, are presented to participants through the mobile app. There are three possible alerts based upon a traffic light system: green= no symptoms of concern; amber= symptoms of concern to be discussed at next clinic visits or when convenient; red= concerning symptoms that require urgent discussion with clinical team, click to call function to phone hospital is presented in app. Participants can access to symptom management recommendations and view graphical displays of symptom trends over time through the app (the RESPONSE system). Participants interact with the RESPONSE system as part of their enrollment in the study. The app is patient facing. Participants are encouraged to share the SSPedi graphs during clinical visits with their healthcare team, but this is not a requirement of participation in the study and there is no formal mechanism for clinicians to view the graphs.
Sponsors
Queensland University of Technology
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
2 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children aged 2-18 years, receiving active treatment for blood cancer or solid tumors and their caregiver/s aged 18 years and over are included. Active treatment for cancer is defined as receiving either planned cycles of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Participants will be recruited within two weeks of a planned treatment cycle. Prior to recruitment, their clinical status and the appropriateness to approach potential participants will be confirmed with the treating clinicians. Participants are required to be able to read and understand English, and to have access to a smartphone, iPad or computer and Internet
Exclusion criteria
Children with brain cancer are excluded from this study due to multiple competing studies currently being undertaken in children’s brain cancer at the cancer centre and the concern of overburdening participants. Furthermore, participants will be excluded if there is difficulty with obtaining consent (e.g. the child is under child protection orders), or if there are difficulties understanding English
Outcome results
None listed