Abstract CT208: Feasibility, acceptability, and evaluation of a self-care app to enhance purposeful living among ovarian cancer patients (NCT04458168)
Authors: Alimujiang Aliya , Mukherjee Bhramar , Metzger Maureen , Reynolds R. Kevin , Spratke Lisa , Uppal Shitanshu , Siedel Jean H. , Willacker Christine , Strecher Victor J. , Pearce Celeste Leigh , McLean Karen 
Published: June 2022

Background: Ovarian cancer is a devastating disease with a five-year survival rate of less than 50%. Identifying strategies to improve survival is imperative. Ovarian cancer survivors with higher quality of life (QoL) have better prognosis based on results from GOG-0218. Life purpose, defined as the meaning or direction a person has in life, emerged as an important theme in recent focus groups conducted among women who have lived five or more years with ovarian cancer. The participants felt that strong life purpose is a major contributor to their exceptional survival. Further, among people without cancer, strong life purpose has been shown to lead to improved QoL and longer survival. The Purposeful eHealth application (app) has been developed to improve life purpose. Preliminary data from non-cancer patients suggest that use of the app leads to increased life purpose. We hypothesized that among ovarian cancer survivors, greater life purpose is associated with higher QoL scores, and we initiated a clinical trial to test the feasibility and acceptability of ovarian cancer patients using the Purposeful app. Secondary outcomes include evaluation of whether use of this eHealth app improves life purpose and QoL. The app has potential as an accessible hands-on support system for ovarian cancer survivors to increase life purpose, QoL, and potentially survival if positive results are observed from the trial.

Methods: In this single-arm interventional study (NCT04458168), eligible patients are age 18 or older, have ovarian cancer, and are under treatment through the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center Gynecologic Oncology clinic. As of January 2022, we have enrolled 45 women. We innovatively designed the study to enroll 25 women in each of three groups based on disease status to identify an optimal intervention period: Group 1: just completed treatment, Group 2: have not experienced a recurrence after one year since the initial diagnosis, Group 3: have experienced a recurrence after primary treatment. After providing informed consent, participants are provided with the Purposeful app and asked to fill out seven questionnaires in-person or remotely: 1) Demographics; 2) Life Purpose; 3) QoL; 4) Well-Being; 5) Fatigue; 6) Meaning in Life; and 7) Self-Care Assessment and Integrative Medicine Use. Participants’ CA125 measures and disease status are also collected from medical records. Participants are followed up at months 1, 3, and 6; at each visit, participants complete questionnaires 2-7 and the Acceptability questionnaire. Participants are asked to use the app daily until the end of 6 months. At the end of the study, overall and group-specific feasibility and acceptability will be assessed. Additionally, we will examine the associations between app usage, life purpose, and QoL through generalized linear/additive mixed models.

Citation Format: Aliya Alimujiang, Bhramar Mukherjee, Maureen Metzger, R. Kevin Reynolds, Lisa Spratke, Shitanshu Uppal, Jean H. Siedel, Christine Willacker, Victor J. Strecher, Celeste Leigh Pearce, Karen McLean. Feasibility, acceptability, and evaluation of a self-care app to enhance purposeful living among ovarian cancer patients (NCT04458168) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr CT208.