This study began to test a new online health community application called BELONG - designed as a platform to improve the overall patient experience with cancer and care. More specifically, BELONG assists individuals with cancer to meet their information and support needs, promote communication and shared treatment decision-making, track their own cancer journey and guide them to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system. The application is available for use on mobile devices and tablets, such as smart phones and iPads. This pilot particularly focused on the experience of women with gynecological cancer and the views of the multidisciplinary team. 80 to 84% of patients agreed or strongly agreed that BELONG helped them feel less alone and better prepared for medical consultations. Findings underscored the importance of early involvement of multiple stakeholders and more explicit integration of machine learning principles to optimize relevance, clinical implementation and up take.

For more information about this study, please contact the research team:

Loiselle.Lab.ccomtl@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

(514) 398-8977