JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patients often suffer from long-term symptoms and reduced quality of life. Mindfulness meditation is a complementary therapy shown to be beneficial for alleviating a range of cancer-related symptoms; however, in-person meditation interventions are difficult for cancer patients to attend. Meditation delivered via a smartphone application represents a novel approach in MPN patients for delivering meditation.

Objective:

The purpose of this paper was to report the perceptions and experiences of MPN patients who participated in a consumer-based smartphone meditation app feasibility study.

Methods:

MPN patients (n=128) were recruited nationally through organizational partners and social media. Eligible and consented patients were enrolled into one of four groups, two of which received varying orders of two consumer-based apps (10% Happier and Calm) and two that received one of the apps alone for the second four weeks of the eight-week intervention after an educational control condition. Participants were asked to perform 10 min/day of smartphone-based meditation irrespective of the app and/or the order in which they received the apps. At the conclusion of the study, participants were asked if they would like to participate in a 20-min phone interview consisting of 9-10 questions to discuss their perceptions and experiences while using the smartphone meditation apps. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and were imported into NVivo for analysis. An inductive coding process, aligned with a basic content analysis approach, was then used to organize the data, generate categories and develop themes and sub-themes.

Results:

A total of 48 MPN patients completed post-intervention interviews, of which 29% (n=14/48) used only the 10% Happier app, 21% (n=10/48) used only the Calm app, and 46% (n=22/48) used both apps during the eight-week intervention. Themes emerged related to 1) perceptions of meditation before, during, and after the study, 2) perceptions of the Calm app, 3) perceptions of the 10% Happier app, 4) perceived impacts of using the meditation apps, 5) overall experiences of participating in the study, 6) recommendations surrounding meditation for other MPN patients, and 7) plans to continue meditation.

Conclusions:

The qualitative findings of this study suggest that MPN patients enjoy smartphone meditation, prefer the Calm app over the 10% Happier app, identify with certain design features that make the Calm app more appealing, and experience beneficial effects of meditation on mental health, sleep, fatigue, and pain. Future research is needed to better understand the efficacy of smartphone meditation on MPN patient outcomes as well as meditation app design features that enhance uptake among its users. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03726944; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03726944?map_cntry=US&map_state=US%3AAZ&draw=4&rank=38 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/77MVdFJwM)