Abstract
The promotion of physical activity behavior change among adults with cancer is a research priority. Within this field, increasing attention is being devoted to the use of health technology, which includes mobile phones and applications, or apps, to support and deliver physical activity behavior change interventions. While building a mobile app is a popular proposal among exercise oncology researchers, little practical information exists on how this process should be done or what considerations researchers should take in collaboration with participants and industry. The present article provides an overview of recent experiences with app development in exercise oncology and outlines several recommendations for future research. Methods and Results: After forming an interdisciplinary team of researchers, industry partners, and exercise oncology program participants, an iterative, user-centered app improvement process was followed to collect feedback and make meaningful changes to an existing mobile health app for its use in exercise oncology. Participant feedback was summarized and addressed collaboratively via open discussion and detailed action plans. Changes made include enhanced introductory materials for the app and improvements to usability and personalization. Some requests remain to be addressed in future updates. Two challenges identified during the app improvement process were balancing the unique needs and priorities of all parties, as well as addressing the variable feedback from a variable population of adults with cancer. Conclusions and significance: A multidisciplinary participant-oriented app improvement process led to meaningful updates to the mobile application of interest, preparing researchers to carry out an evaluation of its effectiveness within exercise oncology. Furthermore, based on lessons learned, the research team present key recommendations to consider in future mobile app research before, during, and after the development process.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) enhances the well-being of adults with cancer, yet most of this population remains insufficiently active (Stout et al, 2017; Thraen-Borowski et al, 2017)
Work began on adapting useful app features such as activity and health tracking, graphing, and reminders to establish a positive feedback loop that supports PA behavior change. These features were selected for their potential to promote self-monitoring, review of behavioral goals, and feedback on performance, three behavior change techniques associated with effective PA behavior change in adults with cancer and other populations (Michie et al, 2009; Spark et al, 2012)
Participants were purposely invited from our existing exercise oncology programs to capture perspectives from adults with cancer across various ages, genders, cancer types, PA levels, socioeconomic status, technology literacy, and location
Summary
Physical activity (PA) enhances the well-being of adults with cancer, yet most of this population remains insufficiently active (Stout et al, 2017; Thraen-Borowski et al, 2017). Research and development related to PA mobile apps for adults with cancer and other populations has seen rapid growth in recent years (Chan et al, 2020b; Ester, Eisele, et al, 2021; Vandelanotte et al, 2016) For all those who have toyed with the idea, this viewpoint article details the authors’ recent experiences with app development in exercise oncology and presents recommendations for future work in this field. Work began on adapting useful app features such as activity and health tracking, graphing, and reminders to establish a positive feedback loop that supports PA behavior change These features were selected for their potential to promote self-monitoring, review of behavioral goals, and feedback on performance, three behavior change techniques associated with effective PA behavior change in adults with cancer and other populations (Michie et al, 2009; Spark et al, 2012). A detailed overview of the behavior change techniques used within Zamplo and the additional resources provided alongside the app can be found elsewhere (Ester, McNeely, et al, 2021)
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