A Pilot Feasibility Study of Digital Health Coaching for Men With Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. The majority of prostate cancer treatment occurs in the ambulatory setting, and patients and their caregivers take on significant responsibility for monitoring and managing treatment and disease-related toxicity. Digital health coaching has shown promise as a tool to positively influence outcomes. We completed a single-arm pilot study to assess the feasibility of digital health coaching in men with prostate cancer.

Men with a history of prostate cancer requiring treatment in the past 2 years were eligible for inclusion. Participants engaged in a 12-week health coaching program, consisting of a combination of at least one telephone call and up to four digital nudges (defined as content delivered via text, e-mail, or app on the basis of the participant's preference) per week. Prostate cancer-specific content addressed one of the following topics each week: fatigue, pain management, healthy eating, exercise, managing incontinence, sexual health, managing stress and anxiety, financial toxicity, goal setting during treatment, managing side effects, communicating with the health care team, and medication adherence. Services were provided at no cost to the participant.

A hundred patients were consented for the study, and 88 enrolled. The feasibility threshold of 60% was met with 63 of the 88 enrolled individuals completing the 3-month program (proportion = 71.6%; 90% CI, 62.6 to 79.4; P = .016).

Digital health coaching for men with prostate cancer is feasible. These findings support further evaluation of digital health coaching for men with prostate cancer in larger randomized controlled trials.

JCO oncology practice. 2022 Apr 08 [Epub ahead of print]

Nathan R Handley, Kuang-Yi Wen, Sameh Gomaa, Kelly Brassil, Ayako Shimada, Benjamin Leiby, Lindsey Jackson, Michael McMorris, Anne Calvaresi, Adam P Dicker

Department of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA., Pack Health, Birmingham, AL., Division of Biostatistics, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA., Department of Urology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA., Department of Radiation Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.