Self-reported patient barriers and the impact of digital health coaching on PRO in cancer.

Abstract

189 Background: Barriers during cancer care include lack of social support, financial concerns, and communication with providers. While navigation has been identified as a way to address these concerns in the clinical context, opportunities exist to identify and address patient-reported barriers through digital health coaching to support patients beyond the clinical care setting. Methods: A retrospective analysis evaluated patient-reported barriers during cancer care for 708 individuals over the course of a digital health coaching program. Barriers were assessed in six domains, each represented by 5-10 questions in a company developed survey. The questions were administered prior to coaching on content aligned to the domains, specifically eating healthy, exercise, financial, access to care and medication adherence. Patients ranked both the presence and severity of the barrier. Patient reported outcomes such as exercise (Godin), health eating (Start the Conversation), financial toxicity (Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST)) and physiologic and psychosocial outcomes (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Health (PROMIS-GH) 10) were measured and aligned to the barrier domains identified by the participants. Results: The eating healthy domain (2.43) received a significantly higher average score compared to other domains: financial (1.86), exercise (1.71), medication adherence (1.68) and access to care (1.65). Over the 12-week coaching program, physical activity increased by 56%, fatigue was reduced by 32%, financial toxicity was reduced by 8%, the healthy eating score improved by 17% and pain was reduced by 13%, as reflected in the PROMIS GH-10, Godin, STC and COST data. Conclusions: Outcomes suggest that healthy eating is a significant barrier identified by cancer patients during their treatment, followed by financial concerns and exercise, each of which demonstrated improvement over the course of digital health coaching. These results suggest digital health coaching provides a benefit to addressing barriers during cancer treatment and may improve patient reported outcomes, particularly as they relate to wellness behaviors such as healthy eating and exercise.