JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Patient-centered care, emphasizing autonomy and shared decision-making, is essential in palliative cancer care. Increasing cancer prevalence requires optimized health care utilization, and considering patients’ wish for home care, traditional time-based follow-up appointments may not optimally address patients’ needs. We have developed a digital patient-controlled follow-up intervention at the Acute Palliative Care Unit in Norway. The digital application is integrated into the existing national health service platform, MyHealth, and facilitates symptom monitoring, self-management support, and patient-controlled access to palliative care services.

Objective:

This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and study procedures prior to examining intervention effect in a future randomized controlled trial.

Methods:

Applying a mixed methods design, we plan to recruit 20 patients to participate over a six-week intervention period, completing weekly electronic versions of the revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment System to monitor symptom burden and enable tailored follow-up. Participants will access a dedicated website offering self-management guidance and further gain electronic booking rights for contact with the palliative care team. Health-related quality of life will be assessed at baseline and postintervention using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C-15-Pal. Following the intervention, patients will complete a satisfaction questionnaire. Semi-structured interviews with patients and family carers will explore experiences, benefits, and barriers, while focus groups with health care professionals will assess feasibility from a clinical perspective. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed separately before integrated to identify convergence, complementarity or divergence.

Results:

Ethics approval has been obtained for the study and recruitment is due to start in April 2026. Findings on feasibility aspects relating to recruitment, acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, and responsiveness of outcome measures, will determine whether the intervention is deliverable as intended and acceptable to patients and carers.

Conclusions:

Digital, need-based follow-up may offer a sustainable, patient-centered model for palliative cancer care. The findings of this feasibility study will inform the design of a randomized controlled trial to examine the effect of this intervention.