Effect on Adaptation to Cancer of Mobile Application Developed for Gynecological Cancer Patients

Getting a cancer diagnosis, the difficult treatments applied and the side effects that occur completely affect the life of the patient, shaking his future plans and adaptation mechanisms. In recent years, the role of healthcare professionals has included counseling and promoting positive health behaviors to reduce disease and treatment side effects and increase adherence to disease. The service provided by healthcare professionals to patients has started to move to digital environments with the developing technology and the concept of e-health has been born. Offering e-health support as part of regular care has become a powerful tool to help cancer patients manage their disease. Web-based interventions or mobile applications provide an opportunity for improved communication and better information exchange between healthcare professionals and patients. In addition, education of cancer patients and patient self-management allow for better clinical outcomes using e-health or mobile health applications. The widespread use of smartphones enables cancer patients to be supported from different perspectives through mobile applications. When the studies are examined, it is noteworthy that mobile applications developed for female cancer patients are predominantly related to breast cancer. Most of the technology-based researches on gynecological cancers are studies conducted through text message intervention, online web-based interventions or social media tools such as Facebook and WeChat. For this reason, the aim of this study is to develop a mobile application to increase physical and psychosocial adjustment for gynecological cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and to investigate its effectiveness.

Sex

Female

Minimum age

18 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Be over 18 years old
* Be at least primary school graduate
* Volunteering to participate in research
* Being diagnosed with gynecological cancer for the first time (no cancer recurrence)
* Receiving at least one course of chemotherapy and continuing chemotherapy treatment
* Be Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance scale score below 3
* Be not have a psychiatric illness
* Owning a smartphone
* Be have internet access and have used any mobile application before

Exclusion Criteria:

* Be have any psychiatric illness
* Be have not yet received or completed chemotherapy treatment
* Be Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance scale score of 3 and above