A thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews exploring attitudes and needs for digital supportive care among patients with cancer and survivors

The literature has reported inequality in access to both medical and psychosocial supportive care in oncology for which digital health technologies (e.g., wireless technologies, telemedicine) may be a suitable solution. Given attitudes could influence acceptability of such tools, this pre-registered qualitative study aimed to investigate patients’ and survivors’ attitudes toward digital psychosocial supportive care interventions and needs. A total of 36 patients (31 female, five male; mean age = 49.86 ± 10.93 years) were recruited for semi-structured interviews.

Patients were found to have positive attitudes toward the digitalization of supportive care. However, they had some concerns, including about the complementarity between digital and in-person care and the security of data, which should be considered during the development of interventions. Participants asked for a participative design, transparency during intervention development, and frequent user experience evaluations for tailored interventions.

Those findings lead to recommendations for the development of future digital interventions. The SCALab laboratory is part of the ONCOLille Institute. This work was funded by the French National League Against Cancer – North Committee and by the French National Cancer Institute (Institut National du Cancer, grant INCA/16136) in collaboration with the Université de Lille, the SCALab laboratory, the ONCOLille Institute, and the Centre Oscar Lambret that support the research chair opsyrii “innovations in psycho-oncology and intervention research.”.

French National League Against Cancer–North Committee, Institut National Du Cancer, INCA/16136. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Univ. Lille, 59000, Lille, France Valentyn Fournier, Laura Caton, Lisa Laroussi-Libeault, Claire Rybarczyk, Louise Richez, Christelle Duprez, Pascal Antoine & Kristopher Lamore Département du Pôle d’Oncologie Médicale, Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille, France Department of Dermatology, CHU Lille, Hôpital Claude Huriez, 59000, Lille, France Pôle de Psychiatrie, CHU Lille, Hôpital Claude Huriez, 59000, Lille, France The authors declare no competing interests.

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