INTERACTIVE GUIDE TO MANAGING CANCER PAIN

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pain is one of the most dreaded sequelae of a cancer diagnosis. An estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of patients undergoing treatment for a solid tumor and from 70 percent to 90 percent of patients with advanced disease experience pain. In this Phase II SBIR, HealthMark Multimedia will develop an interactive media education and self-management program on CD-ROM for persons experiencing cancer pain and their caregiving family members. This interactive support system will assist the patient and caregiver in participating with their health care team in the pain management process. In Phase II we will research and produce the remaining informational content and graphic elements and concurrently identify and develop additional tools for the CD-ROM. The complete product will include an interactive pain diary and information and tools on how to use complementary/alternative methods of pain management and will generally build on the elements in Phase I that helped the users to overcome obstacles to pain relief. Product effectiveness in increasing cancer patients? self-efficacy, use of tools, increased knowledge base, decreased pain, and increased use of pain management techniques will be field-tested with patients experiencing pain as a result of cancer and with caregivers. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This product has commercial potential for direct sale to health consumers, and for use by a pharmaceutical company as value-added patient education, for sale of multiple users to health care organizations and individual providers. Currently, there are no interactive programs offering pain management information and interactive tools through new media.