Adaptation of a Digital Health Intervention for Chronic Condition Related fatigue to the Latino population

Chronic Condition-related Fatigue (CCrF) is a distressing sense of physical, emotional and/or cognitive tiredness that negatively impacts the quality of life (reduced workability, poor anti-cancer treatment adherence) and healthcare expenditure (e.g., over $9,322 annually) of those affected. CCrF is a persistent problem across chronic conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes, which also affects their caregivers. An estimated 5 million people in the United Stated (US) are living with fatigue associated with chronic conditions. Moreover, Latinos are disproportionally affected by fatigue or its contributing factors (e.g., pain and stress) in many of those conditions. Studies suggest the potential of trans-diagnostics interventions (energy preservation, psycho- social education, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc.) for coping with CCrF. However, despite the substantial burden of fatigue, there are no digital health solutions in the market that address the fatigue support needs by applying such trans-diagnostics interventions. Furthermore, often studies of digital health solutions underrepresent minorities, potentially producing health disparities, such as lower adoption by US Latinos. The Adhera® Fatigue Digital Program (AFDP) builds on the principles of transdiagnostics interventions for providing fatigue self-management empowerment to people across different conditions with advanced artificial intelligence-based personalization techniques. The AFDP is part of the Adhera Health’s evidence-based Precision Digital CompanionTM platform, which is already being used in dozens of hospitals for various conditions. The objectives of this Phase I project are: Aim 1) Assess the acceptability of the Adhera® Fatigue Digital Program by the US Latino population. Milestone: the AFDP accepted by Latino populations, measured with uMARS (average of 4 out of 5 stars) and SUS (average usability score of more than 75). Aim 2) Design the implementation strategy for AFDP in the urban Latino community. Milestone: Completed implementation strategy and accepted by 3 healthcare providers for initial pilots. The key aspiration for Phase I, combined with further clinical validation in Phase II, is to obtain scientific validation that will set the foundation for the future commercialization of Adhera® Fatigue in a Software-as-a-Service model that will target the healthcare providers and payors that cover the underserved population of US Latinos living with CCrF, which represents a substantial and growing part of healthcare costs in the US.