Developing a medical software to enhance patient participation

Mental health disorder is a frequent issue among cancer patients. It is estimated that in about 30% of cancer patients, psychological issues are undetected. Psychooncology is a subdomain of psychology, which studies cancer related psychological issues and, hence, develop appropriate treatments. With the help of screening instruments like the Distress Thermometer, patients are rated according to their mental state. The result of the screening indicates, whether a patient needs psychological treatment or not. However, in most medical facilities this screening is processed using paper-based questionnaires, which complicates the treatment. This thesis aims for enhancing the screening process as well as the overall psychological treatment with a newly developed mobile application Feelback.

The mentioned application uses patient participation principles by applying the latter. Patients shall feel more involved in the psychological treatment process. This results in patients that take a more active role in making decisions related to their treatment. Moreover, sophisticated gamification concepts guarantee long-term motivated users. From the medical facility’s point of view, screened patients are evaluated in an automated manner, which, in term, saves time and money. In addition, Feelback makes it easier to document psychological treatments. At the current state of development, further steps should focus on user acceptance testing, in order to verify, whether the mentioned concepts work as intended.