Quality of Life of Women After a First Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Using a Self-Management Support mHealth App in Taiwan: Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: There are over 2 million newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer worldwide with more than 10,000 cases in Taiwan each year. During 2017-2018, the National Yang-Ming University, the Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and the Taiwan Breast Cancer Prevention Foundation collaborated to develop a breast cancer self-management support (BCSMS) mHealth app for Taiwanese women with breast cancer.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer in Taiwan after using the BCSMS app.

Methods: After receiving a first diagnosis of breast cancer, women with stage 0 to III breast cancer, who were recruited from social networking sites or referred by their oncologists or oncology case managers, were randomized 1:1 into intervention and control groups. Intervention group subjects used the BCSMS app and the control group subjects received usual care. Two questionnaires-the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and the EORTC Breast Cancer-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (QLQ-BR23)-were distributed to subjects in both arms. Paper-based questionnaires were used at baseline; paper-based or Web-based questionnaires were used at 1.5-month and 3-month follow-up evaluations. All evaluations were self-assessed and anonymous, and participants were blinded to their allocation groups. Descriptive analysis, the Pearson chi-square test, analysis of variance, and the generalized estimating equation were used to analyze the data. Missing values, with and without multi-imputation techniques, were used for sensitivity analysis.

Results: A total of 112 women were enrolled and randomly allocated to either the experimental group (n=53) or control group (n=59). The follow-up completion rate was 89.3% (100/112). The demographic data showed homogeneity between the two groups in age (range 50-64 years), breast cancer stage (stage II), marital status (married), working status (employed), and treatment status (receiving treatments). The mean total QoL summary scores from the QLQ-C30 (83.45 vs 82.23, P=.03) and the QLQ-BR23 (65.53 vs 63.13, P=.04) were significantly higher among the experimental group versus the control group, respectively, at 3 months.

Conclusions: This research provides support for using a mobile health care app to promote the QoL among women in Taiwan after a first diagnosis of breast cancer. The BCSMS app could be used to support disease self-management, and further evaluation of whether QoL is sustained is warranted.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT004174248; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04174248.

Keywords: breast cancer; mHealth app; quality of life; self-management.

Figure 1

Study flowchart.