Field testing of an app for exercises after breast cancer surgery.

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Development and field testing of a mobile application for self management of arm and shoulder exercises after breast cancer surgery.

• IRAS ID

  191216

• Contact name

  Helena Harder

• Contact email

  h.harder@sussex.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Sussex

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 5 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Surgery and radiotherapy to the lymph nodes under the arm are thought to cause acute and chronic breast pain, tenderness and arm and shoulder impairments in up to 60% of patients with breast cancer. This can have debilitating and long lasting effects on everyday life. Early postoperative exercises are effective in reducing these problems. Advice on exercise is routinely given to patients, but most find it difficult to continue with exercise routines at home on their own, and supervised exercise programmes are usually not available. Recent developments in mobile technology such as smartphone/tablet applications (apps) have shown promising results in improving outcomes for many health conditions. There are currently around 300 cancer apps on the market, however most only raise awareness or provide information about cancer and do not focus on exercise. Also, most health apps are not tested in patients, not developed by health care professionals or academics, or based on clinical guidelines.
  Our study aims to develop and test an app with breast cancer patients and health care professionals/academics that will help with recovery after surgery. During phase 1, we developed the app with breast cancer patients and health care professionals. We asked patients to participate in two focus groups to discuss the different stages of this process and used their feedback to build and refine the app. During phase 2, we will ask a group of 20 patients who are scheduled for breast cancer surgery to use the app for 8 weeks to examine the usability during the recovery phase, for instance if the reminders work well and how its use affects participant's well-being. This will be done by participants' completion of a series of short questionnaires (with 'tick a box' responses) before and after surgery.

• REC name

  North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/NW/0814

• Date of REC Opinion

  5 Oct 2015

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion