Exploring the Use of a Digital Platform for Cancer Patients to Report Their Demographics, Disease and Therapy Characteristics, Age, and Educational Disparities: An Early-Stage Feasibility Study.
Introduction: The increasing burden of cancer, the development of novel therapies, and the COVID-19 pandemic have made cancer care more complex. Digital innovation was then pushed toward developing platforms to facilitate access to cancer care. Age, education, and other disparities were, however, sh...
| Publicado en: | Current Oncology Vol. 30; no. 8; pp. 7608 - 7620 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
Aug2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=170737284&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 170737284 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 11980052 5EKK jtl: Current Oncology issn: 11980052 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2023 vid: 30 iid: 8 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 170737284 10.3390/curroncol30080551 170737284 ppf: 7608 ppct: 12 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Exploring the Use of a Digital Platform for Cancer Patients to Report Their Demographics, Disease and Therapy Characteristics, Age, and Educational Disparities: An Early-Stage Feasibility Study. aug: au: Galiti, Dimitra Linardou, Helena Agelaki, Sofia Karampeazis, Athanasios Tsoukalas, Nikolaos Psyrri, Amanda Karamouzis, Michalis Syrigos, Konstantinos N. Ardavanis, Alexandros Athanasiadis, Ilias Arvanitou, Eleni Sgourou, Stavroula Mala, Anastasia Vallilas, Christos Boukovinas, Ioannis affil: Clinic of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece sug: ab: Introduction: The increasing burden of cancer, the development of novel therapies, and the COVID-19 pandemic have made cancer care more complex. Digital innovation was then pushed toward developing platforms to facilitate access to cancer care. Age, education, and other disparities were, however, shown to limit the use of the digital health innovation. The aim of this early-stage feasibility study was to assess whether Greek cancer patients would register at CureCancer and self-report their demographics, disease and therapy characteristics, and socioeconomic issues. The study was organized by the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology. Methods: Patients from nine cancer centers were invited to register on the CureCancer platform and complete an anonymous questionnaire on demographics, disease and therapy characteristics, and socioeconomic issues. Patients were also encouraged to upload, in a secure area for them, their medical files and share them with their physicians. They were then asked to comment on their experience of registration and how easy it was to upload their medical files. Results: Of the 159 patients enrolled, 144 (90.56%) registered, and 114 of those (79.16%) completed the questionnaire, suggesting that the study is feasible. Users' median age was 54.5 years, and 86.8% of them were university and high school graduates. Most patients (79.8%) reported their specific type of cancer diagnosis, and all reported their therapy characteristics. Breast and lung cancers were the most common. A total of 87 patients (76.3%) reported being on active cancer therapy, 46 (40.4%) had metastatic disease, and 51 (44.7%) received supportive care medications. Eighty-one (71.05%) patients received prior cancer therapies, and twenty-seven recalled prior supportive care medications. All patients reported visiting non-oncology Health Care Professionals during the study. Nineteen of 72 (26.39%) patients who worked prior to cancer diagnosis changed work status; 49 (42.98) patients had children under 24 years; and 16 (14%) patients lived alone. Nine (7.9%) patients were members of patient associations. Registration was "much/very much" easy for 98 (86.0%) patients, while 67 (58.8%) had difficulties uploading their files. Patients commented on the well-organized data access, improved communication, feeling safe, medication adherence, interventions from a distance, and saving time and money. Over 80% of patients "preferred the digital way". Discussion: A total of 114 patients succeeded in registering on the digital platform and reporting their demographics, disease and therapy characteristics, and socioeconomic issues. Age and educational disparities were disclosed and highlighted the need for educational programs to help older people and people of lower education use digital innovation. Health care policy measures would support patients' financial burden associated with work changes, living alone, and children under 24 years old at school or college. Policy actions would motivate patients to increase their participation in patient associations. According to the evidence DEFINED framework, the number of patients, and the focus on enrollment, engagement, and user experience, the study fulfills actionability level criterion 1. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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