Design of Cancer Pain Management App Modules: Using a Modified Delphi Process (Preprint)

Abstract

Cancer pain is a significant public health issue. Mobile health offers improved and cost-effective care to people with cancer pain. However, the efficiency of engagement strategies and modules of this technology need to be reviewed and standardized according to expert perspectives. The use of applications (apps) for cancer pain management has increased over recent years. However, evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of these apps remains lacking. This study used the modified Delphi process on the design of cancer pain management apps.

The study aimed to design the most agreed-upon modules for cancer pain management mobile apps.

This study recruited experts in the domain of cancer pain management and applied a modified Delphi method to design the most relevant app modules. We used the positive coefficient and authority of expert indexes, such as the degree of coordination with expert opinions and other modules to test the reliability of the consultation. Cronbach’s α coefficient, content validity index (CVI), were used for data analysis.

A total of 23 experts with a mean age of 42.3 years (SD 5.7) consented to participate in the study. All of them had worked more than 10 years in the cancer pain management field. Overall, five app modules were generated. The Cronbach’s a coefficient was 0.81 for the overall scale.The scale-level CVI was 0.78.

This study is the first in China to recruit a local panel of experts from the cancer pain management field. We used an iterative process to combine the experts’ opinions into a group consensus. The results of this study could benefit developers of health apps and inform future decision making on cancer pain management.