Self-Management and Support for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

Roughly adolescents and young adults AYA are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States US and the incidence of cancer in this cohort has increased steadily over the past years Nevertheless improvements in health outcomes for AYA lag far behind the advances that have been made for children and older adults with cancer Cancer treatments are typically associated with symptoms that substantially impact quality of life including pain nausea vomiting and fatigue Most patients receive aggressive multimodality therapy with intensive chemotherapy Recent work has documented significant levels of unmet needs among AYA with cancer particularly the need for psychosocial support From a developmental perspective the demands of cancer and its treatments often directly conflict with the normative developmental needs of AYA such as living an active independent life and forming and maintaining new peer relationships By delivering a psychosocial intervention focused on illness resilience coping and social support a mobile based intervention is an ideal way to complement treatment Further smartphone ownership is highest among young people with the majority using their mobile phones for gathering information about health conditions more so than for any other category of information seeking The BodiMojo Pocket Coach for AYA with cancer will draw on evidence based approaches to deliver a psychosocial intervention through a mobile platform With technical innovations in mobile technologies including gamification fostering of social ties and personalized feedback the proposed intervention will be designed to promote positive coping skills illness resilience and social support and to serve as a complement to patient physician interactions Importantly the BodiMojo Pocket Coach for AYA with cancer will build upon an already established basic technical platform The aims of the proposed program are to develop a prototype of a psychosocial intervention for AYA with cancer to be delivered through a mobile app and to pilot test feasibility and acceptance of the program with AYA with cancer and health care providers who work with this population If successful the Pocket Coach will represent an innovative and effective mobile health program for AYA with cancer The objective of the proposed research is to create a mobile based self management support intervention for adolescents and young adults AYA with cancer via a mobile application that can serve to increase patient engagement through interactive coping skills self care and social support If the BodiMojo Pocket Coach mobile application is successful it will have a significant public health impact by providing a mobile resource for AYA cancer patients for which the demands of cancer and its treatments often directly conflict with the normative developmental needs of AYAs such as living an active and independent life and maintaining developing new peer relationships By reaching AYAs in their own environment the proposed mobile intervention has the potential to improve health outcomes and quality of life as well as reduce significant costs to the US healthcare system