Open AccessmHealth self-care interventions: managing symptoms following breast cancer treatment
Author(s) -
Mei R. Fu,
Deborah Axelrod,
Amber Guth,
Kavita Rampertaap,
Nardin El-Shammaa,
Karen Hiotis,
Joan Scagliola,
Gary Yu,
Yao Wang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
mhealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2306-9740
DOI - 10.21037/mhealth.2016.07.03
Subject(s) - lymphedema , medicine , mhealth , psychological intervention , breast cancer , cronbach's alpha , self management , physical therapy , health care , usability , ehealth , cancer , clinical psychology , psychometrics , nursing , human–computer interaction , machine learning , computer science , economics , economic growth
Many women suffer from daily distressing symptoms related to lymphedema following breast cancer treatment. Lymphedema, an abnormal accumulation of lymph fluid in the ipsilateral body area or upper limb, remains an ongoing major health problem affecting more than 40% of 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Patient-centered care related to lymphedema symptom management is often inadequately addressed in clinical research and practice. mHealth plays a significant role in improving self-care, patient-clinician communication, and access to health information. The-Optimal-Lymph-Flow health IT system (TOLF) is a patient-centered, web-and-mobile-based educational and behavioral mHealth interventions focusing on safe, innovative, and pragmatic electronic assessment and self-care strategies for lymphedema symptom management. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and test of TOLF system.