Poster Presentation Cancer Survivorship 2019

Development of a Strategic Framework for Digital Health in Cancer Care: Stakeholder-identified barriers, enablers and needs for implementation. (#136)

Emma Kemp 1 , Patricia Williams 2 , Lisa Beatty 1 3 , Haryana Dhillon 4 , Chris Christensen 5 , Joshua Trigg 6 , Bogda Koczwara 1 3
  1. College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  2. Flinders Digital Health Research Centre, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  3. Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  4. School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
  5. Cancer Voices South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  6. Cancer Council SA, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Aims

The potential of digital health to increase access, integration, and personalisation of care is particularly relevant to cancer care, given growing numbers of cancer survivors, their complex, often long-term health care needs, and the importance of self-management, health behaviour modification, and longitudinal data monitoring. Despite this, we have not been able to identify a strategic framework for development and implementation of digital health specific to cancer care. Existing digital health frameworks focus on health system over consumer priorities, despite the potential for digital health to assist cancer consumers to navigate the plethora of information available electronically and meet their needs for decision support. This study aimed to engage multiple stakeholders on digital health in cancer care, to identify barriers, enablers, gaps and priority needs and subsequently inform the development of a strategic framework for digital health in cancer care in Australia.

Methods

Stakeholders with expertise or interest in digital health and/or cancer care were recruited through consumer organisations, professional organisations, and individual invitation of NGO and policy body leadership. Stakeholders participated in focus groups or individual interviews, exploring their perspectives on advantages and disadvantages, barriers and enablers, opportunities and priority needs for digital health in cancer care in Australia. Prevalent themes were identified using thematic analysis. 

Results

Participants (N = 36) included consumers, health care providers, academics, developers, and NGOs and policy representatives. Issues in implementing electronic health records were emphasised. Themes related to barriers, enablers and needs included privacy and security, disparity and inclusivity, convenience and ease of use (including interoperability), and the need for a coordinated approach to avoid redundancy and enable effective scaling and implementation of digital health approaches.

Conclusions

Barriers, enablers and needs identified by stakeholders will enable a coordinated approach to digital health in cancer care in Australia, to the benefit of users.