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Smartphone-based application for self-management of patients with colorectal cancer: development and usability evaluation

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Supportive Care in Cancer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Self-management is considered essential for improving the treatment and management of colorectal cancer patients. This study was conducted to develop and evaluate the usability of a smartphone-based application for the self-management of patients with colorectal cancer.

Methods

We developed an Android-based application called “Colorectal Cancer Along (ColorectAlong)” for the self-management of colorectal cancer. Seventeen patients, from the Cancer Institute of Iran, evaluated the usability of this application for 2 weeks using a standard questionnaire for user interaction satisfaction (QUIS) version 5.5. The obtained data was analyzed using SPSS software version 26.

Results

The ColorectAlong application was developed with features covering several areas of colorectal cancer self-management. The areas available for evaluation in the app are patient profile; medication management; nutrition and diet management; pain management; mental health; smoking cessation and alcohol reduction; educational content; and adding reminders, questions, and notes. Our results indicate that the usability of this application is good with an average QUIS score of 8.03 out of 9.

Conclusion

The ColorectAlong application can improve self-management, assist patients, and facilitate access to required information without the need for internet access.

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Data availability

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Code availability

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Funding

This study was a part of a master thesis supported by Iran University of Medical Sciences. (Number: 98–2-37–15185).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hosna Salmani & Abbas Sheikhtaheri

  2. Cancer Research Center of Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Azin Nahvijou

  3. Health Management and Economics Research Center, Health Management Research Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abbas Sheikhtaheri

Authors
  1. Hosna Salmani
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  2. Azin Nahvijou
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  3. Abbas Sheikhtaheri
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Contributions

HS, ASH, and AN were responsible for the design of the study, development of the application, and writing of the manuscript. ASH and AN reviewed and evaluated the study. All authors were involved in the design and conception of the study and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abbas Sheikhtaheri.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (IR.IUMS.REC.1398.398).

Consent to participate

Consent was obtained from all participants in this study.

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Not applicable.

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Salmani, H., Nahvijou, A. & Sheikhtaheri, A. Smartphone-based application for self-management of patients with colorectal cancer: development and usability evaluation. Support Care Cancer 30, 3249–3258 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06754-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06754-0

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