Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Nov 15, 2024
Date Accepted: Sep 29, 2025
Digital Health Interventions to Reduce Cancer-Related Fatigue Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer-related fatigue is a common and significant symptom experienced by cancer patients and survivors across all age groups, profoundly impacting their quality of life. Adolescents and young adults often encounter substantial academic, career, and personal demands, which pose unique challenges in managing this symptom and may have a more profound overall impact on their lives. While digital health interventions show considerable promise in managing cancer-related fatigue, few reviews have specifically addressed their use among adolescents and young adults.
Objective:
This scoping review aims to identify and assess the types and effectiveness of digital health interventions in managing cancer-related fatigue among adolescents and young adults.
Methods:
We conducted a comprehensive search across six databases—PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science—covering English-language studies from each database's inception up to November 2024. Two researchers independently screened the studies based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results:
Ten studies were included in this review: five randomized controlled trials, two quasi-experimental studies, two mixed-method studies, and one cohort study. The digital health interventions identified were classified into six categories: self-monitoring and tracking, automated online guidance and feedback, virtual communities and social support, real-time remote coaching and counseling, gamified interventions, and robot-assisted rehabilitation. Seven of these studies reported significant reductions in cancer-related fatigue among adolescents and young adults through the use of digital health technologies.
Conclusions:
Digital health technologies present flexible, individualized management options with substantial potential for alleviating cancer-related fatigue in adolescents and young adults. Larger-scale studies and extended follow-up are needed to confirm these findings and enhance the effectiveness of digital health interventions.
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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.