Understanding the needs and preferences of oncology dietitians for mobile health apps

Mobile health (mHealth) apps are increasingly used to deliver nutrition care to cancer patients and survivors, yet little is known about how to design them for effective integration into supportive care. This study examined registered dietitians' current mHealth practices and app preferences for supporting nutrition care for the oncology population, as well as most commonly suggested behavioral change techniques specific to cancer apps.

A 17-item online questionnaire was distributed through the Oncology Dietetics Practice Group, Reddit and LinkedIn in a cross-sectional study. Surveys were filtered for complete and human-verified responses. Descriptive statistics were applied to closed-ended items, while content analysis was conducted for open-ended responses between three coders.

The final sample included 50 oncology dietitians, Ninety percent of whom were interested in recommending mHealth apps as a nutrition resource for cancer patients and survivors despite 32% not using an app in practice. Dietitians expressed interest in features to deliver behavior change prompts to patients and to increase self-monitoring of dietary habits (72%). Participants also indicated interest in features that allow them to view dietary data to facilitate discussions on diet quality (78%) and energy adequacy (82%). In response to a question about preferred data types, dietitians preferred access to information about gastrointestinal symptoms (98%), macro- and micronutrient intake (90%), nutrition goal completion (84%), and food group intake (82%). Self-monitoring, goals and planning, and providing feedback to the patient were the most common features requested for a cancer app.

Oncology dietitians are interested in using and recommending apps to support nutrition care for cancer patients and survivors. The study findings can inform future efforts to tailor mHealth app features and data to support oncology nutrition care and workflow.