Mobile Health App Attitudes and Adoption Among Oncology Providers: Cross-Sectional National Survey

Mobile health (mHealth) apps can address health inequities and enhance access to care for individuals with immunocompromising conditions. Although hundreds of oncology apps exist, research on provider perspectives regarding their use in clinical care remains limited.

This study aimed to describe oncology providers' recommended apps, mHealth attitudes and beliefs, and perceived barriers to and facilitators of mHealth adoption. Exploratory aims examined differences based on provider type (medical vs psychosocial), provider age (<45 vs ≥45 years old), and patient population (pediatric vs adult).

We conducted a cross-sectional survey administered via REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) to oncology providers across the United States between June and November 2024. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Pearson's chi-square analyses examined exploratory group differences based on provider type, provider age, and patient age.

Of 188 respondents, the majority self-identified as female (150/188, 79.8%), White (161/188, 85.6%), and non-Hispanic/Latino (174/188, 92.6%). Nearly all providers (178/188, 94.7%) reported either recommending or using mHealth apps with their patients, with primary use for patient-provider communication (139/188, 73.9%). Providers perceived potential benefit across a broad spectrum of holistic care functions. Providers, on average, reported a growth mindset and confidence in their ability to learn mHealth tools and in its potential to improve care access. Key facilitators included alignment with patient needs, increased accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, while barriers included disparities in technology access, digital health literacy, and data security and privacy. Exploratory analyses showed some significant group differences by provider role, provider age, and patient age. Psychosocial providers were significantly more likely to recommend or use apps for pain management (χ²₁=14.34, P<.001, φ=0.28), mental health (χ²₁=50.54, P<.001, φ=0.53), and sleep health (χ²₁=25.47, P<.001, φ= 0.38). Psychosocial providers also perceived higher benefit for sleep health apps (χ²₁=6.40, P=.01, φ=0.19). Medical providers were significantly more likely to perceive medication management apps as potentially beneficial (χ²₁=10.93, P<.001, φ=0.25). Older providers (16/88, 18.2%) and adult care providers (8/32, 25%) were significantly more likely to recommend or use disease management apps compared to younger providers (5/100, 5%; χ²₁=8.20, P=.004, φ=0.21) and pediatric care providers (6/101, 5.9%; χ²₂=9.22, P=.01, Cramer V=0.22), respectively. Pediatric care providers (83/101, 82.2%) were more likely to recommend or use medical team communication apps compared to adult care providers (15/32, 46.9%; χ²₂=15.66, P<.001, Cramer V=0.29).

Our study underscores the opportunity to develop inclusive mHealth solutions tailored to the diverse needs of individuals across the cancer care continuum, including those in active treatment and survivorship care. Engaging diverse medical and psychosocial providers is essential to inform clinical integration of mHealth technologies in oncology care.