TY - JOUR
T1 - Pilot testing an app-based stress management intervention for cancer survivors
AU - Børøsund, Elin
AU - Varsi, Cecilie
AU - Clark, Matthew M.
AU - Ehlers, Shawna L.
AU - Andrykowski, Michael A.
AU - Sleveland, Hilde Renate Sætre
AU - Bergland, Anne
AU - Nes, Lise Solberg
N1 - Funding Information:
he authors would like to thank the many patients with cancer who volunteered their time for this study, the Psychosocial-Oncology team at Oslo University Hospital, and all the participating healthcare pro - viders for contribution in the recruitment of study participants. Finally, the authors thank the Center for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research design/development team for their exceptional effort throughout the entire project process. This study was funded by the Norwegian Cancer Society (# 4602492-2013 (Principal Investigator: L.S.N.) and additional funds from the Center for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research at the Oslo University Hospital. The findings reported in this article have not been previously published, and this manuscript is not being simul - taneously submitted elsewhere. Selected subparts of the results have been presented at the 39th Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine in New Orleans, LA (April 2018) and at the 15th APOS Annual Conference, Tucson, AZ (February 2018). The authors have full control of all the primary data and agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Psychosocial eHealth intervention programs for cancer survivors are still in their infancy, with inconsistent findings so far in the scientific literature. The aim of this study was to explore system use, usefulness, ease of use, and preliminary effects of Stress Proffen, an app-based cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention for patients with cancer. A feasibility pilot project tested the intervention with cancer survivors (N = 25). The intervention contained (a) one faceto-face introduction session, (b) 10 app-based modules with stress management educational material and exercises, and (c) one follow-up phone call. Post-intervention interviews were conducted and user log-data were extracted. Outcome measures-Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Anxiety and Depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]), Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL; SF-36), and SelfRegulatory Fatigue (SRF-18)-were completed at baseline and post-intervention. Participants were primarily women (84%), age 34-71 (mean 48) and represented a variety of cancer diagnoses (majority breast cancer: 40%). Twenty-two participants completed all (pre-post) questionnaires. Sixteen participants (67%) completed at least 7 of 10 modules within the 8-week study period. Post-intervention interviews described StressProffen as providing a new, appreciated, and easily accessible stress management tool for the cancer survivors. Dependent/paired t-tests showed significant pre- post intervention effects with significant decrease in stress (p = .008), anxiety (p = .019), and self-regulatory fatigue (p = .025), and improved HRQoL (Role Physical, General Health, Vitality, and Role Emotional, all p's <.01). App-based stress management interventions such as StressProffen can provide appreciated support for cancer survivors, should be easy to use, can provide significant stress reduction, and improve emotional well-being. Further testing in a randomized controlled trial is warranted and is in progress. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT0293961.
AB - Psychosocial eHealth intervention programs for cancer survivors are still in their infancy, with inconsistent findings so far in the scientific literature. The aim of this study was to explore system use, usefulness, ease of use, and preliminary effects of Stress Proffen, an app-based cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention for patients with cancer. A feasibility pilot project tested the intervention with cancer survivors (N = 25). The intervention contained (a) one faceto-face introduction session, (b) 10 app-based modules with stress management educational material and exercises, and (c) one follow-up phone call. Post-intervention interviews were conducted and user log-data were extracted. Outcome measures-Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Anxiety and Depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]), Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL; SF-36), and SelfRegulatory Fatigue (SRF-18)-were completed at baseline and post-intervention. Participants were primarily women (84%), age 34-71 (mean 48) and represented a variety of cancer diagnoses (majority breast cancer: 40%). Twenty-two participants completed all (pre-post) questionnaires. Sixteen participants (67%) completed at least 7 of 10 modules within the 8-week study period. Post-intervention interviews described StressProffen as providing a new, appreciated, and easily accessible stress management tool for the cancer survivors. Dependent/paired t-tests showed significant pre- post intervention effects with significant decrease in stress (p = .008), anxiety (p = .019), and self-regulatory fatigue (p = .025), and improved HRQoL (Role Physical, General Health, Vitality, and Role Emotional, all p's <.01). App-based stress management interventions such as StressProffen can provide appreciated support for cancer survivors, should be easy to use, can provide significant stress reduction, and improve emotional well-being. Further testing in a randomized controlled trial is warranted and is in progress. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT0293961.
KW - Cancer
KW - EHealth
KW - MHealth
KW - Psycho-oncology
KW - Stress management
KW - User-centered design
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U2 - 10.1093/tbm/ibz062
DO - 10.1093/tbm/ibz062
M3 - Article
C2 - 31330023
AN - SCOPUS:85089301970
SN - 1869-6716
VL - 10
SP - 770
EP - 780
JO - Translational behavioral medicine
JF - Translational behavioral medicine
IS - 3
ER -