The performance of mHealth in cancer supportive care: a research agenda

Background: Since the advent of smartphones, mhealth has risen to the attention of all actors in the health care system as something that could radically change the way health care has been thought of, managed, and delivered to date. This is particularly relevant for cancer, as it is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and for cancer supportive care (CSC) since patients and care givers have a key role in managing side effects: given adequate knowledge, they are able to expect appropriate assessments and interventions. In this scenario, mhealth has great potential for linking patients, care givers, and health care professionals, for enabling early detection and intervention, for lowering costs and achieving better quality of life. Given its great potential, it is important to evaluate the performance of mhealth. This can be considered from several perspectives, of which organizational performance is a particularly relevant dimension, since mhealth may increase the productivity of health care providers and as a result even the productivity of health care systems. Objective: This paper aims to review studies on the evaluation of the performance of mhealth, with particular focus on cancer care and cancer supportive care processes, concentrating on its contribution to organizational performance, and identifying some indications for a further research agenda. Methods: We carried out a review of literature, aimed at identifying studies related to the performance of mhealth in general or focusing on cancer care and cancer supportive care. Results: Our analysis revealed that studies are almost always based on a single dimension of performance. Any evaluations of the performance of mhealth are based on very different methods and measures, with a prevailing focus on issues linked to efficiency. This fails to consider the real contribution that mhealth can offer for improving the performance of health care providers, health care systems, and the quality of life in general.