JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The integration of digital technologies is becoming increasingly essential in cancer care. However, limited digital health literacy (DHL) among clinical and non-clinical cancer healthcare professionals poses significant challenges to effective implementation and sustainability over time. To address this, the European Union is prioritizing the development of targeted digital skills training programs for cancer care providers. A crucial initial step in this effort is conducting a comprehensive gap analysis to identify specific training needs.

Objective:

The aim of this work is to identify training gaps and prioritize the digital skill development needs in the oncology healthcare workforce.

Methods:

An Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was conducted. The survey assessed the performance and importance of seven digital skills: Information, Communication, Content Creation, Safety, e-Health Problem Solving, Ethics, and Patient Empowerment.

Results:

A total of 67 participants from 11 European countries completed the study: 38 clinical professionals (CP), 16 non-clinical professionals (NCP), and 13 patients/caregivers (PC). CP acknowledged the need for a comprehensive training program, that includes all the seven digital skills. Digital Patient Empowerment and Safety skills emerge as the highest priorities for both CP and NCP. Conversely, NCP assigned lower priority to digital Content Creation skills and PC to digital Information and Ethical skills. The IPA also revealed discrepancies in digital Communication skills across groups (H = 6.50; p<.05).

Conclusions:

The study showcased the pressing need for comprehensive digital skill training for cancer healthcare professionals across diverse backgrounds and healthcare systems in Europe. Based on the results the most urgent areas of digital skills training include digital Patient Empowerment and Safety skills. Incorporating patient and caregiver perspectives ensures a balanced approach to addressing these training gaps. These findings provide a valuable knowledge base for designing digital skills training programs, promoting a holistic approach that integrates the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved in digital cancer care.