Development and Feasibility Study of Self-management Application for Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy or Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and evaluate feasibility of self-management application for head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation or radiation and chemotherapy.  A total of 10 head and neck cancer patients purposively selected to use and assessed the application. Personal data, self-management outcomes and score from feasibility questionnaire were collected after 7 weeks. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.

The findings revealed that the developed web-based application consisted of 3 parts including learning content media according to self-management concept of Lorig & Holman, self-management recording form, and nurse-patient communication channel. After testing the feasibility, the results indicated that the application was easy to use, the patients could apply knowledge to manage the side-effects, especially GI symptoms, and conveniently communicated with nurse. Moreover, the subjects would recommend other patients to use it.  This self-management application was found to be appropriate in caring head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation or radiation and chemotherapy. Further study for efficiency and effectiveness assessment of the application with more subjects was suggested.