A multinational investigation of healthcare needs, preferences, and expectations in supportive cancer care: co-creating the LifeChamps digital platform

Rebecca Marshall-McKenna; Grigorios Kotronoulas; Emmanouil Kokoroskos; Andrea Gil Granados; Panagiotis Papachristou; Nikolaos Papachristou; Gonzalo Collantes; Georgios Petridis; Antonis Billis; Panagiotis D Bamidis; LifeChamps consortium

doi:10.1007/s11764-022-01289-7

A multinational investigation of healthcare needs, preferences, and expectations in supportive cancer care: co-creating the LifeChamps digital platform

J Cancer Surviv. 2023 Aug;17(4):1094-1110. doi: 10.1007/s11764-022-01289-7. Epub 2022 Nov 11.

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. Rebecca.Marshall@glasgow.ac.uk.
² School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
³ Academic Primary Health Care Center, Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, 104 31, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Research Group in Joint Research Unit in ICT Applied to the Reengineering of Socio-Sanitary Processes, Hospital La Fe de Valencia, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
⁵ Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 141 83, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Lab of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Abstract

Purpose: This study is to evaluate healthcare needs, preferences, and expectations in supportive cancer care as perceived by cancer survivors, family caregivers, and healthcare professionals.

Methods: Key stakeholders consisted of cancer survivors diagnosed with breast cancer, prostate cancer, or melanoma; adult family caregivers; and healthcare professionals involved in oncology. Recruitment was via several routes, and data were collected via either online surveys or telephone interviews in Greece, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Framework analysis was applied to the dataset.

Results: One hundred and fifty-five stakeholders participated: 70 cancer survivors, 23 family caregivers, and 62 healthcare professionals (13 clinical roles). Cancer survivors and family caregivers' needs included information and support on practical/daily living, as frustration was apparent with the lack of follow-up services. Healthcare professionals agreed on a multidisciplinary health service with a "focus on the patient" and availability closer to home. Most healthcare professionals acknowledged that patient-reported outcomes may provide "better individualised care". Cancer survivors and family caregivers generally felt that the digital platform would be useful for timely personalised support and aided communication. Healthcare professionals were supportive of the "proactive" functionality of the platform and the expected advantages. Anticipated challenges were integration obstacles such as workload/infrastructure and training/support in using the new technology.

Conclusions: Obtaining key stakeholders' insights provided a foundation for action to further co-create the LifeChamps digital platform to meet needs and priorities and deliver enhanced supportive care to "older" cancer survivors.

Implications for cancer survivors: Co-creation provided insight into gaps where digital support may enhance health and well-being.

Keywords: Co-creation; Digital health; LifeChamps; Older adults; Quality of life; Supportive cancer care.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Adult
Breast Neoplasms*
Cancer Survivors*
Caregivers
Delivery of Health Care
Humans
Male
Motivation