Development testing of mobile health interventions for cancer patient self-management: A review

As the vision of mobile health (mHealth) is beginning to be realized, rigorous intervention development protocols are needed in order to draw optimal efficacy and effectiveness to support patient-centered oncology care. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a review of published articles that describe the development process of mHealth interventions for patients' cancer care self-management. The review search yielded 11 interventions, reported by 14 manuscripts. The following trends emerged: importance of stakeholder engagement during the development process, addressing the unique needs and experiences of cancer patients and care providers, ensuring user satisfaction with the system, and identifying perceived benefits and limitations of the system. This review provides practical suggestions for mHealth intervention development. Assessments of user perceptions should be both qualitative and quantitative, and researchers should follow an established framework when developing a randomized controlled trial employing mHealth.