Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Phone App Intervention for Coping With Cancer as a Young Adult: Pilot Trial and Thematic Analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Many young adult (YA) patients do not receive adequate psychosocial services to help them cope with cancer. OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a smartphone application (“iaya”) intervention that was designed to create an engaged community of YA patients and help them learn emotional coping skills. METHODS For this single-group pilot trial, 25 YA patients aged 18-39 years who were receiving active cancer treatment were asked to use the “iaya” app for 12 weeks. To collect app usage data, we used Mixpanel, an analytics platform for apps. Feasibility was assessed through rates of app sessions and coping exercises engaged, and intervention acceptability was evaluated with an app usability questionnaire and through qualitative interviews at study completion. We collected patient-reported outcome (PRO) data at baseline and at week 12 to explore self-efficacy for coping with cancer, self-efficacy for managing emotions, perceived emotional support, and quality of life. RESULTS Baseline PRO data indicated that participants scored relatively low on perceived emotional support, but reasonably high on self-efficacy for coping with cancer and managing emotions, as well as quality of life. Participants had a mean of 13 app sessions (SD=14) and 2 coping exercises engaged (SD=3.83) in 12 weeks. Only 8.7% of participants met our combined feasibility definition of ≥ 10 app sessions and ≥ 3 copings skills from different categories. Participants’ mean usability score was 73.7% (SD, 10.84), exceeding our predefined threshold of ≥ 70%, and qualitative feedback was generally positive. CONCLUSIONS While perceived acceptable by patients, the “iaya” smartphone app did not meet the a priori feasibility criteria as a stand-alone app intervention. Future studies should screen participants for unmet coping needs and consider integrating the app as part of YA patients’ psychosocial care. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04119869.