Optimizing the impact of supportive cancer care digital health interventions: considerations for design, development,...

Ensuring universal and equitable access to supportive cancer care is essential for improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Digital health interventions have emerged as promising tools to address barriers in supportive cancer care by enabling remote symptom management, real-time patient monitoring, behavior change support, and enhanced communication with healthcare providers. However, despite their potential, challenges remain in their design, evaluation, and implementation. Methodological concerns, fragmented stakeholder engagement, and a lack of standardized frameworks have limited their effectiveness and widespread adoption. This paper explores strategies to optimize the design, development, and evaluation of digital health interventions for supportive cancer care. It highlights the shift from traditional intervention frameworks to user-focused approaches, such as co-design, which actively involve patients and stakeholders in the design process. While these approaches enhance usability and relevance, their application remains inconsistent. Furthermore, evaluation challenges persist due to the limited use of rigorous methodologies. To advance digital health in supportive oncology, a hybrid model integrating international digital health standards with pathology-specific adaptations is proposed. This approach ensures interoperability while addressing the unique needs of supportive cancer care. Clear, actionable guidelines, co-design, and robust evaluation frameworks are critical to ensuring these interventions are accessible, effective, and sustainable in clinical practice. Addressing systemic barriers, including data security, access equity, and real-world implementation, is essential to realizing the full potential of digital health in supportive cancer care.