Mobile health applications for the care of patients with breast cancer: A scoping review.
Tingting Cai, Yueshi Huang, Yuxia Zhang and 3 others
PMID 34631997WHAT IT FOUND
Eight breast cancer apps were built around exercise, lifestyle, symptoms, or information and emotional support.
Nurses were involved in only one. The work maps design patterns, not evidence that the apps improve outcomes.
Key findings
01Eight eligible studies described mHealth apps for breast cancer care, with objectives in functional exercise, lifestyle promotion, symptom management, and informational and emotional support.
02The review identified four design themes: involving patients and health professionals, patient preferences, patient characteristics, and motivators to use the apps.
03Three nurses with 10 to 17 years of breast cancer care experience were invited to design and test the CSPro-BC app, and they reported it could provide graphic outputs and brief instructions for problem-solving.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only eight eligible studies were included, so the map is narrow. The included studies used different designs, apps, target groups, and findings, so the review maps variation rather than one tested app. The review searched only English peer-reviewed articles from 2010 to 2020 and excluded websites, telephone notifications, mixed cancer types, and inaccessible full texts. Nurses were reported as involved in only one included app, so the review does not describe broad nursing input into app design.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under grants 71874032 and 72074054. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that mHealth apps improve breast cancer care. The review maps eight design and development studies, including three feasibility studies and one pilot study, and nurses were involved in only one.