Clinical trial · Interventional
The Pain Squad+ Smartphone App To Support Real-Time Pain Management for Adolescents With Cancer
The Pain Squad+ Smartphone App To Support Real-Time Pain Management for Adolescents With Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Pain negatively affects the quality of life of adolescents with cancer (AWC). It can also represent a high cost to the healthcare system and families. In response, our team has built a smartphone-based app, called Pain Squad+, which can give AWC real-time advice to manage their pain. The app uses pain diaries and personalized pain advice plus support from a registered nurse to give real-time pain management in all settings. This study will look at the impact of Pain Squad+, with or without the nurse support, on AWC health quality and healthcare costs over time.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Therapy-Associated Cancer | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pain Squad+ | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Pain Squad+ with Nurse Support | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Experimental Group A
- description
- Participants in this arm will receive the Pain Squad+ smartphone app with algorithm-driven pain management advice registered nurse (RN)-initiated pain support. Email alerts related to clinically important incoming pain reports (3 consecutive reports of pain \>3/10) will be sent to the study RN who will contact the healthcare team at the participants' home center to initiate clinician-driven intervention, which may be outside of the scope of the self-management algorithm. The RN will contact the participant within 12 hours of receiving the alert, including on weekends.
- interventionNames
- Other: Pain Squad+ with Nurse Support
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Experimental Group B
- description
- Participants in this arm will receive the Pain Squad+ smartphone app with algorithm-driven pain management advice but without nurse (RN)-initiated pain support.
- interventionNames
- Other: Pain Squad+
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 12 Years
- Maximum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * aged 12-18 years, * are able to speak and read English, * are diagnosed with cancer (all disease types), * are on active therapy, * have an average self-reported pain score of ≥3/10 measured using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS) over the preceding week, and * have an English-speaking and reading caregiver who is willing and able to complete outcome measures related to healthcare encounters Exclusion Criteria: * with significant cognitive impairments or co-morbid illnesses (as determined by their medical team) that would limit interaction with Pain Squad+ or outcome measure assessment, * who are currently participating in other pain management studies, and * who are not expected to survive past 16 weeks as determined by their oncologist
References
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDJibb L, Nathan PC, Breakey V, Fernandez C, Johnston D, Lewis V, McKillop S, Patel S, Sabapathy C, Strahlendorf C, Victor JC, Moretti ME, Nguyen C, Hundert A, Cassiani C, El-Khechen Richandi G, Insull H, Hamilton R, Fang G, Kuczynski S, Stinson J. Pain Squad+ smartphone app to support real-time pain treatment for adolescents with cancer: protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2020 Mar 16;10(3):e037251. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037251. PMID 32184315