Mobiles help teen cancer patients stay in touch

Mobile computing technology could help adolescents coping with cancer keep in touch with their social world and reduce isolation, according to German researchers.

Jan Marco Leimeister, Uta Knebel, and Helmut Krcmar from the Technische Universität, Munich, describe in the International Journal of Web Based Communities, their exploration of how mobile information technology could be used to improve perceived quality of life for adolescent cancer patients.

The researchers trialled a smartphone – the XDA Pocket PC – combining personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera and a tri-band mobile phone.

The camera and certain other functions can be used separately from the phone unit, say the researchers, which means the device can be useful in various tasks even in hospital areas that restrict mobile phone use.

Outside restricted areas, it can connect to the internet, send and receive e-mail, and run a wide range of computing applications similar to those found on a personal computer. The calendar, diary, notepad, SMS, e-mail, and instant messaging capability provide the most possibilities for adolescent cancer patients, the researchers say.

Preliminary findings are promising. The patients found the calendar and reminders very useful for keeping track of their treatment, while access to text messaging was very popular.

The team found that when the patients had access to their desktop PCs at home, the portable device was used less, but in hospitals and rehabilitation centres where a PC was not available, the mobile device provided the means to organise their lives and to communicate with family and friends very effectively.

According to Leimeister, who is an expert in virtual communities, e-health and ubiquitous and mobile computing, the four-month field experiment conducted together with the cancer department of the hospital of Heidelberg University has brought to the fore the various challenges and requirements of patient mobile information systems.

Linda Davidson