Feasibility of introducing a smartphone navigation application into the care of breast cancer patients (The FIONA Study)

PURPOSE

Patients with breast cancer (BC) face complex medical information and decisions. The Outcomes4Me mobile app provides evidence-based BC education, symptom management tracking and clinical trial matching. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of introducing this app into routine BC care.

METHODS

In this pilot study among BC patients undergoing therapy at an academic cancer center, patients were followed for 12 weeks with survey administration and electronic health record (EHR) abstraction at baseline and completion. Feasibility was defined as 40% of patients engaging with the app 3 or more times during the study. Additional endpoints included app usability (system usability scale), patient care experience, symptom evaluation, and clinical trial matching.

RESULTS

The study enrolled 107 patients from 6/01/2020 to 3/31/2021. Utilization of the app was deemed feasible with 60% of patients engaging with the app at least 3 times. SUS score of 70 indicated above average usability. New diagnosis and higher education level was associated with greater app engagement, with usability similar across all age groups. 41% of patients found the app helped track symptoms. Cognitive and sexual symptoms were infrequently reported, but were more frequently captured in the app than in the EHR. After using the app, 33% of patients reported increased interest in clinical trial enrollment.

CONCLUSION

Introducing the Outcomes4Me patient navigation app into routine BC care is feasible and may improve the patient experience. These results support further evaluation of this mobile technology platform to improve BC education, symptom management, and decision making.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY

Clinicaltrials.gov registration #: NCT04262518.

Abstract P4-12-08: Accuracy of Patient Self-Reported Breast Cancer Disease Characteristics Compared to the Medical Record in a Trial of the Outcomes4MeDigital Health App

Background: Patients’ understanding of their breast cancer (BC) diagnosis is important in improving treatment adherence, shared decision-making, and clinical trial matching. However, studies have reported discrepancies between electronic medical record (EMR) and patient reported information. Using data collected from a pilot study of the Outcomes4Me patient empowerment and clinical trial matching App, we analyzed concordance of patient reported disease characteristics compared to EMR data. Methods: Data was analyzed from a single institution pilot study (NCT04262518) evaluating the feasibility of introducing the Outcomes4Me app into routine BC care. Eligibility included BC patients with any subtype or stage of invasive cancer presenting with a new diagnosis or for follow-up on active therapy. We compared patient reported characteristics within a study specific survey and/or the Outcomes4Me app for stage (metastatic or not metastatic), recurrence history, hormone receptor status, HER2, and surgery history with the data recorded in the EMR. All statistics were descriptive. We conducted the same comparison between patient reported clinical characteristics among real world users of the Outcome4Me app and EMR records downloaded by that cohort of patients. Results: Between June 2020 and December 2020, 107 patients were enrolled. Baseline demographics: 90% White, 4% Black, 3% Asian; 37% with a college degree, and 43% with post college education; 66% hormone positive/HER2-, 20% HER2+, and 13% triple negative BC; 31% were stage 4. Concordance between the survey or App questionnaire and the EMR is shown in the Table. Comparing EMR and survey data, 62% of patients matched on both HER2 and HR status, and 94% of patients matched with the EMR on metastatic and recurrence status. When surgery and treatment information was included with these features, only 57% of patients matched across all these characteristics. Similar concordance was observed between the App questionnaire and EMR. Excluding the 21% of patients reporting “unsure” HER2 status improved the concordance to 85%. Overall concordance of recurrent or metastatic status was higher than for receptor status. Despite the discordance between EMR and patient-reported disease information, 97% of patients reported that they somewhat or strongly understood their cancer diagnosis. A similar pattern of concordance between the App questionnaire and EMR was observed among a real-world cohort of 636 patients using the Outcomes4Me App who provided medical record access. Conclusion: Self report of hormone receptor and HER2 status had limited concordance with the EMR, in contrast to a high degree of accuracy for self-report of metastatic disease. The limited accuracy of self-report suggests a need for improved patient education regarding their cancer characteristics and a need for caution when relying on self-report for clinical trials matching and targeted patient education. The use of a digital platform that integrates self-report with medical record access may help address these critical needs impacting patient empowerment and care.

Concordance Between App Questionnaire, Study Survey and EMR (% of patients)Disease Characteristic Matching CriteriaApp v. EMR (n=85)Survey v. EMR (n=107)App Real World Cohort (n=636)HER2 Status73%66%79%HR Status80%85%80%Combined Receptor Status67%62%73%Metastatic Status94%(n=79)97%(n=98)94%Surgery History83%(n=47)95%96%(n=310)Recurrent Status98%(n=48)97%(n=98)98%(n=411)Recurrent/Metastatic Status93%(n=42)94%(n=98)98%(n=411)Receptor/Recurrent Metastatic Status and Surgery History74%(n=33)57%(n=93)70%(n=201)

Citation Format: Steven J Isakoff, Eva Glieberman, Maya Said, Agnes H. Kwak, Emily A. O’Rourke, Amanda Stroiney, Laura Spring, Beverly Moy, Aditya Bardia, Nora Horick, Jeffrey Peppercorn. Accuracy of Patient Self-Reported Breast Cancer Disease Characteristics Compared to the Medical Record in a Trial of the Outcomes4MeDigital Health App [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-12-08.

Feasibility of integrating the Outcomes4Me smartphone navigation application into the care of breast cancer patients (FIONA)

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Background: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) face complex decisions about their care and many studies have shown that improved patient engagement results in increased satisfaction and better outcomes. Patient engagement includes education, treatment option selection, symptom tracking and reporting, and clinical trial opportunities. We conducted a pilot study to determine the feasibility of introducing the Outcomes4Me patient engagement app into the standard of care experience of BC patients. Methods: This was a pilot study (NCT04262518) conducted at an academic medical center. Eligible patients had any subtype of stage 1-4 BC and were on any type of chemo-, hormonal-, targeted-, or radiation-therapy for BC during the study period. Participants downloaded the app on their smartphone and their app usage was evaluated. Surveys were administered at baseline and end of study. Clinicians caring for patients using the app were surveyed at the end of the study. The primary endpoint was feasibility, defined as at least 40% of patients engaging with the app at least 3 times over the 12-week study period. Additional endpoints included usability, satisfaction, correlation of patient reported data with the EHR, clinical trial matching, and patient experience. Results: Between June 2020 and December 2020, 107 patients enrolled; results are reported for 90 patients with complete data as of 1/24/21. Baseline demographics: median age 53 (range: 27-77); 90% White, 4% Black, 3% Asian; 66% had hormone positive/HER2-, 20% HER2+, and 13% triple negative BC; 31% had stage 4 disease. At study entry, 93% had never used an app to help with their disease or treatment options. Over the 12 week study period, 58% of patients engaged with the app at least 3 times, meeting the primary feasibility endpoint. Patients engaged with the app on average 5.5 days (range: 0-40) with 20% engaging on more than 10 days during the study. The mean System Usability Score was 71 (median = 76) and was similar across age groups. The 5 app features deemed most (‘somewhat’ or ‘very’) helpful were: background about their BC (76%), information about treatment options (74%), newsfeed about their BC (70%), symptom tracking (65%), and clinical trial information (65%). 53% said that the app helped them keep track of symptoms and 33% said they are more likely to explore or enroll in a clinical trial after using the app. Conclusions: Integration of the Outcomes4Me app into the care management of BC patients is feasible with acceptable usability. Our results suggest that use of a patient smartphone app may be helpful for many aspects of patient education and engagement for patients with BC. The results also suggest that this type of intervention can help patients better track their symptoms and make them aware of clinical trials, potentially facilitating the management of side effects and accelerating clinical trials recruitment. Clinical trial information: NCT04262518.

Implementation of a Brief Screening Tool to Identify Needs of Breast Cancer Survivors

BACKGROUND

Innovation in health care delivery is needed to improve care for cancer survivors. We report our experience with adapting screening questions from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline to evaluate the needs of breast cancer survivors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We adapted the NCCN-recommended screening questions into a plain language, self-administered 1-page intake questionnaire. The tool was administered to a convenience sample of female breast cancer survivors at follow-up oncology and primary care visits. Domains included symptoms, lifestyle concerns, and financial issues. Frequency of concerns was assessed as "never," "rarely," "sometimes," "very frequently," and "always." We evaluated feasibility and utility of administration and the prevalence and frequency of patient-reported concerns.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was highly acceptable to patients and enhanced visits for clinicians. Clinicians reported that it led to discussion of issues that may not otherwise be addressed in the visit and did not find it burdensome. The most commonly endorsed patient concerns were desire to improve fitness or nutrition, worry about cancer recurrence, and insomnia. A majority also reported feeling anxiety and aches or pains in joints or extremities. Several issues known to be underreported in clinic visits were frequently endorsed, included sexual dissatisfaction and memory impairments. Clinicians suggested incorporating the tool into the electronic health record to increase utility and awareness.

CONCLUSION

Screening for individual needs among breast cancer survivors is feasible, efficient, and may identify prevalent issues that otherwise can be missed in routine survivorship care.