TAMPA, Fla. — There’s a research team at the USF College of Nursing that’s working to transform how older adults manage their cancer treatments.
Victoria Marshall, PhD, RN, and associate professor at the USF College of Nursing are leading that team.
She’s working to create a web-based program for older adults who are prescribed oral anti-cancer medication, called GoalHealth.
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“That stands for Geriatric Oncology Adherence Link,” said Victoria Marshall.
While mobile health is nothing new, Marshall said there’s nothing that’s really been specifically designed to help an older population.
“In the past, research has often left older adults 65 and older out of any technology-based interventions… This really focuses on this population to make it very simplistic, to pay attention to color for those aging eyes in someone who may have cataracts that they can read the information. And it just has very simple navigation. Another feature that GoalHealth has is that we only include a 6th-grade reading level for content so that it’s very understandable,” said Marshall.
The technology is expected to bridge the gap in critical cancer care to a group that’s often forgotten about when it comes to technology.
“Adapting technology for older adults who we know are using it,” said Marshall.
The web-based program will be available on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones.
“We also have a calendar so the patients can set alarms or choose not to set alarms,” said Marshall.
It will help patients with things like treatment, education, symptom management, personalized medication support, and complex dosing schedules.
“We also have a calendar so the patients can set alarms or choose not to set alarms,” said Marshall.
“The way that our symptom management toolkits are developed, they allow for the patient to understand how the symptom is described by others who have experienced the symptom, why the symptom may be occurring, how to manage that symptom at home, but more importantly, things that they can talk to their healthcare professional about, how to bring it up, how to discuss it, and then finally when to seek emergent medical attention,” she added.
Marshall and her team recently received a grant from the Florida Department of Health for $213,000.
They’re going to use the money to continue building the program, digitizing it, and testing it.
“We call it alpha testing. It’s really just bringing in participants who meet the criteria of the target population we’re trying to reach, which is 65 and older, patients who are prescribed an anti-cancer medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration,” said Marshall.
This brings her one step closer to her goal.
“What I’d like to see is patients to be informed about their medication, specifically about their symptoms. A lot of our patients suffer from symptoms, and if they’re not caught on time, they can end up in the emergency room, they can be hospitalized. These symptoms sometimes come on very quickly with oral cancer medications,” said Marshall.
She has hopes it will be widely available in the future.
“I think for long-term goals, you know this will be widely available. This will be free, downloadable web-based program for older adults,” said Marshall.
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