- Title
- A mobile application of a breast cancer e-support program for Chinese women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy
- Creator
- Zhu, Jiemin
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Background: Women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy suffer from a variety of symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance, which adversely affect women’s quality of life (QoL) and psychological well-being. These women have frequently reported unmet supportive care needs. Easily accessible and innovative support is lacking. Mobile applications (apps) provide a promising platform to provide knowledge and offer a means to interact with peers or health care professionals when and where needed. Aim: To develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an app-based Breast Cancer Support (BCS) program for Chinese women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy on social support, self-efficacy, symptom distress, QoL, and anxiety and depression. Methods: This thesis consists of an introduction, to illustrating the need for an easily accessible and innovative BCS program; an integrative review on the effectiveness of Internet-based interactive program, from which the knowledge gaps generated further justify the development and evaluation of the BCS program; a study protocol to describe the methodology of the BCS program, a descriptive study on the BCS development and validation process, a quantitative study reporting the BCS effectiveness using a multi-center, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT), and a qualitative study on process evaluation of the BCS program. Results: Our quantitative study demonstrates BCS’s potential for dissemination as an effective and easily accessible intervention to promote women’s self-efficacy, symptom interference, and QoL during chemotherapy. However, these beneficial effects were not sustained at 6 months. The process evaluation supports the quantitative results that the BCS program was useful and feasible. Conclusion: This is the first study of its kind in China to demonstrate the value of an app-based intervention for women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy using a rigorous research design. This is crucial because mobile apps are being increasingly utilized as supplementary interventions for individuals when the feasibility of face-to-face interventions are challenged by physical limitations or geographic distance.
- Subject
- breast cancer; chemotherapy; mobile application; self-efficacy; social support; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1390753
- Identifier
- uon:33127
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Jiemin Zhu
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 5 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 783 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |