BACKGROUND: Cancer patients experience many physical and psychosocial problems for which they need support. WebChoice is an Internet-based, interactive health communication application that allows cancer patients to monitor their symptoms and problems, provides individually tailored information and self-management support, e-communication with expert cancer nurses, and an e-forum for group discussion with other patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of WebChoice on symptom distress (primary outcome), depression, self-efficacy, health-related quality of life, and social support (secondary outcomes). METHODS: In this 1-year repeated-measures randomized controlled trial, 325 breast and prostate cancer patients were randomized into 1 experimental group with access to WebChoice and 1 control group who received URLs of publicly available cancer Web sites. RESULTS: Group differences on symptom distress were significant only for the global symptom distress index on the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (slope estimate, -0.052 [95% confidence interval, -0.101 to -0.004]; t = 4.42; P = .037). There were no significant group differences on secondary outcomes. Additional analyses showed significant within-group improvements in depression in the experimental group only. In the control group, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life deteriorated significantly over time. CONCLUSION: This randomized controlled trial is one of the first to evaluate effects of an interactive health communication application to support cancer patients in illness management on symptoms. Although only 1 hypothesis was partially supported, the combined results show a clear trend toward better scores in the intervention group on most outcome measures. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: If findings can be supported with additional research, WebChoice may become an important tool to support nursing care that can equip cancer patients to better manage their illness.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND:Cancerpatients experience many physical and psychosocial problems for which they need support. WebChoice is an Internet-based, interactive health communication application that allows cancerpatients to monitor their symptoms and problems, provides individually tailored information and self-management support, e-communication with expert cancer nurses, and an e-forum for group discussion with other patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of WebChoice on symptom distress (primary outcome), depression, self-efficacy, health-related quality of life, and social support (secondary outcomes). METHODS: In this 1-year repeated-measures randomized controlled trial, 325 breast and prostate cancerpatients were randomized into 1 experimental group with access to WebChoice and 1 control group who received URLs of publicly available cancer Web sites. RESULTS: Group differences on symptom distress were significant only for the global symptom distress index on the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (slope estimate, -0.052 [95% confidence interval, -0.101 to -0.004]; t = 4.42; P = .037). There were no significant group differences on secondary outcomes. Additional analyses showed significant within-group improvements in depression in the experimental group only. In the control group, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life deteriorated significantly over time. CONCLUSION: This randomized controlled trial is one of the first to evaluate effects of an interactive health communication application to support cancerpatients in illness management on symptoms. Although only 1 hypothesis was partially supported, the combined results show a clear trend toward better scores in the intervention group on most outcome measures. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: If findings can be supported with additional research, WebChoice may become an important tool to support nursing care that can equip cancerpatients to better manage their illness.
Authors: Robert Knoerl; Deborah Lee; James Yang; Celia Bridges; Grace Kanzawa-Lee; G Lita Smith; Ellen M Lavoie Smith Journal: J Cancer Educ Date: 2018-10 Impact factor: 2.037
Authors: Heidi S Donovan; Sandra E Ward; Susan M Sereika; Judith E Knapp; Paula R Sherwood; Catherine M Bender; Robert P Edwards; Margaret Fields; Renee Ingel Journal: J Pain Symptom Manage Date: 2013-09-07 Impact factor: 3.612
Authors: Patrizia Gnagnarella; Alessandro Maria Misotti; Luigi Santoro; Demosthenes Akoumianakis; Laura Del Campo; Francesco De Lorenzo; Claudio Lombardo; Giannis Milolidakis; Richard Sullivan; John Gordon McVie Journal: J Cancer Educ Date: 2016-09 Impact factor: 2.037
Authors: Joanne Wolfe; Liliana Orellana; E Francis Cook; Christina Ullrich; Tammy Kang; Jeffrey Russell Geyer; Chris Feudtner; Jane C Weeks; Veronica Dussel Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2014-03-10 Impact factor: 44.544
Authors: N Fridriksdottir; S Gunnarsdottir; S Zoëga; B Ingadottir; E J G Hafsteinsdottir Journal: Support Care Cancer Date: 2017-09-18 Impact factor: 3.603