Photo by Rhoda Baer
Doctor consults with cancer patient and her father
A recent survey of young cancer patients in the UK revealed their desire for additional digital oncology resources.
The survey showed that many of the patients already used digital resources to access information about their cancer.
However, many also expressed a need for additional resources such as online counseling or psychological support.
Esha Abrol, of Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK, and her colleagues reported these findings in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.
The researchers surveyed 102 cancer patients, ages 13 to 24, about digital media use.
The patients reported having active digital lives, with 41.6% of them rating digital resources as “essential” to their lives.
The patients reported using a variety of healthcare-related digital resources to access information about their disease, including independent sources and ones recommended to them by the professional team treating them.
Half (51%) of respondents said they kept in contact through digital means with other patients they had met during treatment. Twelve percent contacted others or started new digital relationships with people they had never met in person.
However, most of the patients were still most likely to get information about their treatment from professionals in a face-to-face environment, such as when visiting their doctor.
“This is a reassuring and appropriate finding, as this is the conventional means by which teenage and young adult oncology care is delivered by the multidisciplinary team, whether the young people choose to engage or not,” Abrol said.
At the same time, many survey respondents expressed a desire for virtual online groups (54.3%), online counseling or psychological support (43.5%), and the ability to receive (66.3%) and share (48.9%) clinical information online.
Young adults (ages 19 to 24) were more interested than adolescents (ages 13 to 18) in online counseling options and preferred receiving clinical information online.
The researchers said this may reflect young adults’ greater independence, resilience, breadth of experience in the digital world, and confidence in discussing clinical matters online.
Abrol believes these preliminary results can help inform the development of local, national, and global services to teenagers and young adults with cancer to address their unmet needs.
“These digital support resources have the potential to improve patient experience and engagement for an important subsection of teenagers and young people treated for cancer,” Abrol said.
