ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5673

RTT - Patient experience and quality of life

ESTRO 2024

Keywords: planning, information, digital

1329

Poster Discussion

Development of a Mobile Application to Support Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy

Claire Farrugia 1,2 , Clarissa Borg 1,2 , Vimalesan Murugesan 1,2 , Maria Stella Sammut 3 , Conrad Attard 1 , Susan Mercieca 3

1 University of Malta, Faculty of ICT, Msida, Malta. 2 Sir Anthony Mamo Ocology Hospital, SAMOC, Msida, Malta. 3 University of Malta, Radiography, Msida, Malta

Purpose/Objective:

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the development of several mobile health applications to inform and support cancer patients throughout their journey [1]. However, to date, very few applications have been developed to support prostate cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. With the increased availability of smartphones, even amongst the elderly population, mobile applications could provide an excellent tool for cancer patients to obtain timely, reliable information and to facilitate communication with healthcare professionals [2]. Radiotherapy involves a complex, multi-step process, including initial consultations, treatment planning, daily treatment sessions, and follow-up care. The complexity of the treatment process can make patients feel lost. As a result, several studies have reported that prostate cancer patients often have unmet information and care needs [3]. In order to address this challenge, we aimed to assess the feasibility of introducing a mobile application to guide cancer patients throughout the treatment process. Based on the findings of the feasibility study, we developed a prototype mobile application to support patients undergoing radiotherapy to the prostate. The study was divided into 3 phases. The first phase involved the administration of a questionnaire to cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment (n=150) at the local oncology hospital between February 2023 and March 2023. The questionnaire aimed to assess the patient's smartphone knowledge and usage. In addition, the patients were asked to rate the usefulness of a mobile application to support patients undergoing radiotherapy. The second phase involved the development of the application based on the Iterative Software Development Life Cycle framework [4]. During this phase, healthcare professionals involved in the care of patients undergoing radiotherapy to the prostate were consulted on the design and content of the application. In addition, feedback was also sought from a local company specializing in the development of mobile applications and the health informatics team at the local oncology hospital. Several wireframes were then developed to illustrate the key features of the application. These wireframes were shared with the stakeholders to gain their insights. The feedback provided by the healthcare professionals was used to develop a prototype of the mobile application using the Thunkable platform [5] For the third phase, 2 clinical oncologists, 1 higher specialist trainee, 2 radiographers, and 5 prostate cancer patients were asked to rate the mobile application using the Single Ease Questionnaire (SEQ) and System Usability Scale (SUS) [6]. The SES was used to measure the difficulty of using the mobile application and ranges from 1 (very Material/Methods: