Mobile Health Based Self-management and its Effect on Fatigue among Patients with Advanced Cancer

Background: Mobile health is a technology-based nursing service that was created to provide convenience health services for all patients with chronic diseases including advanced cancer patients. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of mobile health based self- management on fatigue among patients with advanced cancer. Design: A quasi-experimental (study and control groups) with pre- and post-research design was used. Setting: This study was conducted at outpatient clinics, oncology department at Menoufia University hospital, Shebin Elkom city, Egypt. Sample: A purposive sample of 150 patients with advanced cancer who were randomly assigned into two equal groups (study group and control group, 75 patients in each group). Instruments for data collection: I- A structured interviewing questionnaire that included, socio-demographic data of studied patients and Medical history of studied patients. II-Fatigue assessment instruments that included, fatigue intensity rating scale, functional assessment of chronic illness therapy fatigue scale and the fatigue barriers scale. Results: There was a significant decrease in mean score and level of fatigue post intervention among study group compared to control group (P<0.0001).Conclusion: Application of mobile health based self-management intervention for 16 weeks period lowered the level of fatigue among study group compared to control group post intervention. Recommendation: Integrating mobile health based practice in providing continuous care and follow-ups for patients with advanced cancer.