JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Mobile health (mHealth) for breast cancer care can greatly benefit patients’ symptom management. Although research supports the effectiveness of mHealth, elderly patients with breast cancer often face difficulties using it, hindering them from accessing effective symptom management possibilities. The needs for mHealth among this population must be understood to provide insights into mHealth design.

Objective:

To better understand the symptom management needs using mHealth for Chinese elderly patients with breast cancer and use the approach of personas to inform the mHealth design.

Methods:

This was a descriptive qualitative study. Seventeen patients with breast cancer over 60 years of age were recruited from tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, China, using purposive sampling. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews. Content analysis was used to identify the factors that influence participants’ symptom management needs using mHealth. The categories of influencing factors of needs informed the persona template guiding the development of personas.

Results:

We identified three major categories affecting participants’ needs for mHealth, including social interaction patterns, mHealth literacy, and symptoms. The following five personas were developed: (1) Positive Manager, (2) Dependent Parent, (3) Management Isolationist, (4) Image Manager, and (5) Clinician Dependent. We provide insights into how these personas can be used when designing and implementing mHealth for symptom management support.

Conclusions:

Key factors influencing symptom management needs using mHealth among Chinese elderly patients with breast cancer and personas developed based on that can foster a better understanding of this population and initiate future mHealth design and implementation.