Co-created Mobile Apps for Palliative Care Using Community-Partnered Participatory Research: Development and...

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Oncology
• Palliative Care

Background:

• Palliative care for advanced cancer patients necessitates intensive monitoring and support, highlighting a critical need for innovative solutions.
• Open design formats and mobile applications can facilitate direct, co-creative solutions by engaging clinicians and stakeholders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To co-design and pretest a mobile application tailored to the palliative care priorities of clinicians and patients with advanced cancer.
• Utilize community-partnered participatory research methods to ensure the app addresses real-world needs.

Main Methods:

• Conducted workshops with patients, families, clinicians, and researchers using in-person and teleconference formats.
• Employed semistructured interviews, group discussions, and written feedback to identify core palliative care needs.
• Co-designed the mobile app prototype, 'My Wellness App,' using the no-code platform Chorus and conducted a pretest with 11 patients.

Main Results:

• Identified key themes: patient advocacy, access to vetted information, enhanced patient-clinician communication, and symptom management.
• The 'My Wellness App' prototype includes a wellness journal, self-management resources, community links, and testimonial videos.
• Pretesting revealed value in app-based communication, with suggestions for UI/UX improvements, symptom reporting, and engagement strategies.

Conclusions:

• Mobile app development via community-partnered participatory research offers a feasible, low-technology intervention for palliative care.
• Iterative redesign and user interface expertise are recommended for optimizing implementation and patient engagement.