Currently submitted to: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Jun 3, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 4, 2026 - Jul 30, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
An Exploration of User Experience with the Untire app for Cancer Related Fatigue: A Mixed Methods Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most distressing and persistent side effects of cancer and its treatment, with mobile health (mHealth) apps offering scalable self-management support.
Objective:
To explore the experiences of users of the Untire app (an unguided mHealth app designed to help manage CRF) in terms of perceptions of acceptability, therapeutic alliance and engagement with the app.
Methods:
This mixed methods study recruited participants with CRF to a single-arm clinical trial (N = 23) to complete a battery of questionnaires at several timepoints. Sixteen semi-structured interviews (N=16) were completed with participants who had used the Untire app for four weeks.
Results:
User feedback data revealed moderate acceptability and therapeutic alliance but high attrition. Interviews were thematically analyzed to understand how people experienced the app. Four themes were identified: (1) CRF is a collection of symptoms that vary from person to person, day to day, (2) The Untire app “What’s good about it?”, (3) The interface between app usage and fatigue, and (4) Personalizing the Untire app.
Conclusions:
Findings highlight both promise and challenges in using this mHealth tool to support CRF self-management. Some learning can be transferred to support of CRF more generally: including the early provision of psychoeducation about fatigue and the importance of personalizing apps and incorporating social support. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05891431; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05891431
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