JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Psychological distress is a major issue among women cancer survivors, who face numerous barriers to accessing in-person mental health treatments. Mobile phone app-based interventions are scalable and have potential to increase access to mental health care among women cancer survivors worldwide.

Objective:

To evaluate a novel app-based intervention with phone coaching in a sample of women cancer survivors.

Methods:

In a single group pre-post 6-week pilot study in the US, 28 women cancer survivors used iCanThrive, a novel app intervention that teaches skills for coping with stress and enhancing wellbeing, with added phone coaching. The primary outcome was self-reported symptoms of depression (CES-D). Emotional self-efficacy and sleep disruption were also assessed at baseline, 6-week post-intervention, and 4 weeks after the intervention period. Feedback obtained at the end of the study focused on user experience of the intervention.

Results:

There were significant decreases in symptoms of depression and sleep disruption from baseline to post-intervention. Sleep disruption remained significantly lower at 4-week post-intervention versus baseline. The iCanThrive app was launched a median of 20.5 times over the intervention period. The median length of use was 2.1 minutes. Of the individuals that initiated the intervention, 87% completed the 6 weeks.

Conclusions:

This pilot study provides support for the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the iCanThrive intervention. Future work should validate the intervention in a larger randomized controlled study. It is important to develop scalable interventions that meet the psychosocial needs of different cancer populations. The modular structure of the iCanThrive app and phone coaching could impact a large population of women cancer survivors.