Supporting cancer patients' unanchored health information management with mobile technology

Cancer patients often need to manage care-related information when they are away from home, when they are experiencing pain or treatment side effects, or when their abilities to deal with information effectively are otherwise impaired. In this paper, we describe the results from a four-week evaluation of HealthWeaver Mobile, a mobile phone application that we developed to support such "unanchored" patient information activities. Based on experiences from nine cancer patients, our results indicate that HealthWeaver Mobile can help patients to access care-related information from anywhere, to capture information whenever a need arises, and to share information with clinicians during clinic visits. The enhanced ability to manage information, in turn, helps patients to manage their care and to feel more confident in their ability to stay in control of their information and their health.