Feasibility study of a mobile application (ACT-ON) to complement acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention in cancer patients

Francisco García-Torres; Margarita García-Carmona; Sebastián Rubio; Bárbara Luque; Ángel Gómez-Solís; Enrique Aranda

doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105131

Feasibility study of a mobile application (ACT-ON) to complement acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention in cancer patients

Int J Med Inform. 2023 Sep:177:105131. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105131. Epub 2023 Jun 21.

Authors

Francisco García-Torres¹, Margarita García-Carmona², Sebastián Rubio³, Bárbara Luque², Ángel Gómez-Solís⁴, Enrique Aranda⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain; Maimonides biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Cordoba, Spain; Reina Sofía University Hospital of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain. Electronic address: z12gatof@uco.es.
² Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain; Maimonides biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Cordoba, Spain; Reina Sofía University Hospital of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
³ Maimonides biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Cordoba, Spain; Reina Sofía University Hospital of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain; Department of Specific Didactics, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
⁴ Reina Sofía University Hospital of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
⁵ Medical Oncology Department, Reina Sofía University Hospital, Córdoba, Spain.

PMID: 37354875
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105131

Abstract

Objective: Psychological and physical distress commonly affect cancer patients. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has shown promising results when it comes to ameliorating symptoms that may develop as a result of this. Meanwhile, it has come to light that the impact of psychological interventions may be enhanced by the use of mobile applications. However, to date no mobile applications have been developed to support ACT-based interventions in cancer patients. The aim of the present study is to develop and test the usability of a mobile application designed to complement face-to-face ACT-based therapy in a group of cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Materials and methods: A total of thirty-nine patients were recruited to participate in this pilot study. Participants had to be: 18 years of age or over, currently undergoing treatment for breast, lung or colorectal cancer, in stage I-III, a smartphone user with daily internet access. The intervention sessions were administered for a period of eight weeks, one hour per week to groups of four to six participants. Patients had the ACT-ON mobile application at their disposal, which provided them with access to therapy-related activities: mindfulness, metaphors and exercises to clarify values.

Results: The application obtained adequate adoption (61.54%) and usage (54.17%) rates. Usability and ease of learning scores were as follows: good usability (M = 79.81, SD = 11.87); high usability (M = 80.53, SD = 14.04); ease of learning (M = 37.5, SD = 23.85).

Discussion: This is the first study to develop and evaluate the usability of an application designed to support ACT-based interventions in cancer patients undergoing treatment. The results show that the ACT-ON app is a feasible tool which achieves high levels of usability. However, said results ought to be confirmed by studies that include a larger number of cancer patients.

Keywords: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT); Cancer patients; Usability; mHealth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy*
Feasibility Studies
Humans
Mobile Applications*
Neoplasms* / therapy
Pilot Projects