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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research

Date Submitted: Jul 20, 2023
Date Accepted: Oct 23, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Support for Chronic Pain Management for Breast Cancer Survivors Through Novel Digital Health Ecosystems: Pilot Usability Study of the PainRELife Mobile App

Masiero M, Filipponi C, Fragale E, Pizzoli SFM, Munzone E, Milani A, Guido L, Guardamagna V, Marceglia S, Prandin R, Prenassi M, Caruso A, Manzelli V, Savino C, Conti C, Rizzi F, Casalino A, Candiani G, Memini F, Chiveri L, Vitali AL, Corbo M, Grasso R, Didier F, Ferrucci R, Pravettoni G

Support for Chronic Pain Management for Breast Cancer Survivors Through Novel Digital Health Ecosystems: Pilot Usability Study of the PainRELife Mobile App

JMIR Form Res 2024;8:e51021

DOI: 10.2196/51021

PMID: 38306176

PMCID: 10873797

How Novel Digital Health Ecosystems May Support Chronic Pain Management in Breast Cancer Sur-vivors: The PainRELife Usability Pilot Study

  • Marianna Masiero; 
  • Chiara Filipponi; 
  • Elisa Fragale; 
  • Silvia Francesca Maria Pizzoli; 
  • Elisabetta Munzone; 
  • Alessandra Milani; 
  • Luca Guido; 
  • Vittorio Guardamagna; 
  • Sara Marceglia; 
  • Roberto Prandin; 
  • Marco Prenassi; 
  • Annamaria Caruso; 
  • Vania Manzelli; 
  • Chiara Savino; 
  • Costanza Conti; 
  • Federica Rizzi; 
  • Alice Casalino; 
  • Giulia Candiani; 
  • Francesca Memini; 
  • Luca Chiveri; 
  • Andrea Luigi Vitali; 
  • Massimo Corbo; 
  • Roberto Grasso; 
  • Florence Didier; 
  • Roberta Ferrucci; 
  • Gabriella Pravettoni

ABSTRACT

Background:

Chronic pain (CP) is one of breast cancer patients' most common and critical long-term effects. Digital health technologies enhance the management of CP by monitoring the physical and psychological health status and supporting pain self-management and patient treatment decisions throughout the clini-cal pathway.

Objective:

This pilot study aims to evaluate patients’ usability experience of a novel digital integrated health eco-system named PainRELife for the CP in a sample of breast cancer patients (BCPs) during survivorship. The PainRELife ecosystem comprises a cloud technology platform interconnected with electronic health records (EHRs) and patients' devices to gather integrated healthcare data.

Methods:

Twenty-five breast cancer patients (aged 47.12) with pain were enrolled and instructed to use the PainRELife mobile application for three months consecutively. The Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) was used to evaluate the mobile app usability. Furthermore, pain self-efficacy and participa-tion in treatment decisions were evaluated. The study has received ethical approval (R1597/21-IEO 1701) by the Ethical Committee of the European Institute of Oncology.

Results:

The MARS total score provided medium-high mean values in each subscale (min. 3.31 - max. 4.18) and a total app quality of 3.90. BCPs reported a redaction of the pain intensity at three months from T0 (M=5) to T2 (M=3.72) (p≤.041). A positive correlation was found between the total number of access-es and pain intensity at three months (p≤.028). Engagement (p≤.033), Information (p≤.042), and Sub-jective Quality (p≤.007) are positively correlated with shared decision-making. Furthermore, partici-pants with a lower pain self-efficacy at T2 (M=40.83) use the mobile app more than participants with a higher pain self-efficacy (M=48.46; p≤ .057).

Conclusions:

Conclusions:

Data retrieved highlighted that digital health technologies, when developed using a patient-driven approach, might be valuable tools for increasing BCPs participation in clinical care, permitting them to achieve a series of key clinical outcomes and improving quality of life. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Digital integrated health ecosystems might be precious devices for improving ongoing monitoring of the physical status, psychological burden, and socio-economic issues during the cancer survivor's trajectory. Clinical Trial: Not applicable


 Citation

Please cite as:

Masiero M, Filipponi C, Fragale E, Pizzoli SFM, Munzone E, Milani A, Guido L, Guardamagna V, Marceglia S, Prandin R, Prenassi M, Caruso A, Manzelli V, Savino C, Conti C, Rizzi F, Casalino A, Candiani G, Memini F, Chiveri L, Vitali AL, Corbo M, Grasso R, Didier F, Ferrucci R, Pravettoni G

Support for Chronic Pain Management for Breast Cancer Survivors Through Novel Digital Health Ecosystems: Pilot Usability Study of the PainRELife Mobile App

JMIR Form Res 2024;8:e51021

DOI: 10.2196/51021

PMID: 38306176

PMCID: 10873797

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