Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share by Email
Print
The use of a home pain monitoring app led to less clinically significant pain in children with cancer, according to a study published in Cancer.
The authors of this study sought to evaluate if a pain monitoring app might be useful in improving suboptimal pain control for children with cancer at home, bridging the distance between clinical and home settings.
The research team conducted a randomized controlled study in which 2 groups were created — one that received the pain monitoring app for use at home (n=79) and the other receiving care without this technology (n=79). The researchers were interested in whether the app made an appreciable difference in pain severity and management strategies, as well as parental well-being, and the acceptability/relevance of this app among both children with cancer and their parents.
Children who were receiving active treatment for cancer (chemotherapy/radiotherapy) with access to a smartphone/tablet were recruited for this study. Researchers used the “KLIK Pijnmonitor” app developed by the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology as their pain monitoring for the investigation. This app allows patients and their families to report moments of significant pain, and to set up daily reminders if desired. Participants in the control group were asked to call the hospital should they require pain-related assistance.
Families in the interventional arm were requested to complete the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (BPI-SF) on a daily basis in weeks 1 and 4. This score assesses pain severity, management strategies, and the interference of pain in daily life. Parental emotional well-being was assessed at the final day of weeks 1 and 4 with a self-completed questionnaire. Lastly, families using the app were asked about their thoughts regarding the acceptability and relevance of this pain monitoring system.
The results demonstrated that those in the intervention group reported clinically significant pain less often than those in the control group over time. Patients who used the app also had large decreases in pain severity compared with the control.
Parental emotional well-being was considerably better in the interventional arm compared with those who received treatment without the app. On average, families gave a score of 7.6 (on a scale from 0 to 10) for their satisfaction with the app and whether they believed that the app should form part of the standard of care.
“These results open up a scale of opportunities for digital symptom monitoring, not only for pediatric oncology but for a wide range of pediatric and adult illnesses as well,” the authors of the study wrote.
Reference
Simon JDHP, Schepers SA, van Gorp M, et al. Pain monitoring app leads to less pain in children with cancer at home: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Cancer. Published online November 10, 2023. doi:10.1002/cncr.35100
This article originally appeared on Hematology Advisor
