Mobile App Promoting Resilience in Stress Management for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: Protocol for a
Nancy Lau1,2, Tonya M Palermo1,3, Chuan Zhou1,4
1Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United States.
JMIR Research Protocols
|July 30, 2024
Summary
This pilot study is evaluating a mobile app intervention (mPRISM) for adolescents and young adults with cancer. The goal is to assess if the digital tool is feasible and acceptable for improving psychosocial outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Digital Health
- Psychosocial Interventions
Background:
- Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer face significant psychosocial challenges.
- Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions offer a promising approach to address care access barriers for AYAs.
- AYAs are digital natives, making mHealth interventions a potentially suitable option.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a mobile app version of the Promoting Resilience in Stress Management (mPRISM) intervention.
- To test a fully automated, evidence-based psychosocial intervention for AYAs with cancer.
- To hypothesize that mPRISM will be feasible, acceptable, and appropriate for this population.
Main Methods:
- A parallel, 2-arm, single-site pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a waitlist control design.
- Recruitment of 80 AYAs (aged 12-25) with a new cancer diagnosis receiving chemotherapy or radiation.
- Randomization to usual care or usual care plus mPRISM for 8 weeks, with assessments at baseline, 8 weeks, and 3-month follow-up.
Main Results:
- Recruitment is ongoing, with 20 participants enrolled since September 2023.
- Primary outcomes include feasibility (enrollment ≥60%, retention ≥70%) and implementation measures (score ≥4/5).
- Exploratory outcomes include quality of life, resilience, distress, anxiety, depression, pain, and sleep.
Conclusions:
- mHealth interventions like mPRISM have the potential to address the unmet psychosocial needs of AYAs with cancer.
- This pilot study will provide crucial data on the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of mPRISM.
- Findings will inform larger, efficacy-focused RCTs for mHealth psychosocial support in AYA oncology.
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