A rousing mobile app for cancer-related fatigue management
CRF is a distressing and persistent condition related to cancer and cancer treatments that interferes with patient functioning. Unlike regular fatigue, CRF has an erratic onset, prolonged recovery periods and is not proportional to recent activity. Moreover, patients with CRF often experience depression and anxiety.
A digital self-management tool for cancer patients
The EU-funded mPOWER project combined two decades of psychological interventions and academic research to develop the first mobile application that addresses CRF. “The Untire App incorporates evidence-based practices and theories from cognitive behaviour therapy and positive psychology,″ explains project coordinator Door Vonk. The application aims to transform the lives of cancer patients and survivors through effective, digital support to reduce fatigue and improve quality of life. Untire offers cancer patients an easy-to-use digital self-management programme that educates them on the causes and effects of CRF-like anxiety and sleep disorder issues. Users record their energy and fatigue on a weekly basis, which gives them insight on energy expenditure and helps them understand the factors responsible for CRF. It also provides stress-reduction activities, motivational tips and physical exercises to help users build their physical strength. The aim is to get and keep people mentally and physically active. Untire is accessible to any end user with a smartphone or tablet regardless of geographic location or healthcare access, age, gender, cancer diagnosis, or disease progression. The application is currently available in English and Dutch on Google Play and Apple App stores throughout Australia, 30 EU countries, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States. In collaboration with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the mPOWER team have conducted an international randomised e-health control trial (RCT) study with over 800 participants across 6 countries. Results demonstrate that the Untire app is very effective. It significantly reduces CRF within 12 weeks amongst users while increasing quality of life.
The prospects of Untire
Worldwide, millions of people are suffering from cancer and these numbers are expected to rise over the next years. As a frequent consequence of the disease, CRF poses a high socioeconomic burden. Project scientists hope to integrate the MPOWER tool into clinical practice to provide specialists with guidelines to help patients suffering from CRF. In this context, they plan to conduct a large study in a clinical setting. So far, the application has received great interest from patient advocacy groups, hospitals, oncologists and nurses as part of the patient care plan. The application recently received NHS approval and is available on the NHS Apps Library featuring only NHS approved apps that focus on patient health and wellbeing across a variety of disease states. “This is the first step towards making Untire part of the therapeutic protocol of cancer patients,″ emphasises Vonk. According to Vonk, the success behind Untire is “that it offers a low threshold solution for a big unmet need. And of course that a dedicated team materialised the initiative to tackle CRF through a digital self-management solution.″ This same team plans to further personalise the app into a tailor-made tool based on the input of the user, cancer type and duration. Vonk is a strong supporter of digital self-management solutions: “healthcare is changing and in the future patients will be more and more in control of their own health through innovative digital applications.″
Keywords
mPOWER, cancer-related fatigue (CRF), Untire, self-management, mobile app, quality of life