Trial reportPediatric blood & cancer2020
A pilot study of the preliminary efficacy of Pain Buddy: A novel intervention for the management of children's cancer-related pain.
Trial report in Pediatric blood & cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of digital health on symptoms and health-related quality of life in children and adolescent cancer survivors: a meta-analysis and systematic review.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Pooled it
- Toward Participatory Precision Health With Co-Designed Recommendations: Systematic Review of Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions in Adolescents and Young Adults.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Ethical, legal, and social aspects of health technologies for home-based paediatric palliative care - a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- Readdressing the Ongoing Challenge of Missing Data in Youth Ecological Momentary Assessment Studies: Meta-Analysis Update.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- A scoping review on the feasibility and efficacy of mobile health applications in the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- The Role of Mobile Applications in Enhancing the Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- An umbrella review on how digital health intervention co-design is conducted and described.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- The Psychology Behind the Efficacy of a Buddy System for Enhancing Retention in Dermatological Clinical Trials.Cureus · 2024Review
- Usability Evaluation of the RevisedChildren (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Acceptability, Effectiveness, and Roles of mHealth Applications in Supporting Cancer Pain Self-Management: Integrative Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Review
- Outlooks on using a mobile health intervention for supportive pain management for children and adolescents with cancer: a qualitative study.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Digital health tools for pain monitoring in pediatric oncology: a scoping review and qualitative assessment of barriers and facilitators of implementation.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Article
- The predictive trifecta? Fatigue, pain, and anxiety severity forecast the suffering profile of children with cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Article
- Article
- Symptoms and daily experiences reported by children with cancer using a game-based app.Journal of pediatric nursingArticle
- Pain Assessment Tools for Infants, Children, and Adolescents With Cancer: A Scoping Review.Pediatrics international : official journal of the Japan Pediatric SocietyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesCancer-related pain in children is prevalent and undermanaged. Mobile health (mHealth) applications provide a promising avenue to address the gap in pain management in children with cancer. Pain Buddy is a multicomponent mHealth application developed to manage cancer-related pain in children. The goal of this paper is to present preliminary efficacy data of the impact of Pain Buddy on children's pain severity and frequency.
methodsIn a randomized controlled trial over 60 days, children (N = 48) reported daily pain on a tablet while receiving usual care. Those in the intervention group (N = 20) received remote symptom monitoring and skills training for pain management. Children in the attention control group (N = 28) only reported on their pain.
resultsBoth groups experienced significant reductions in average daily pain over the study period (B = -0.10, z = -3.40, P = 0.001), with no group differences evident (z = -0.83, P = 0.40). However, the intervention group reported significantly fewer instances of moderate to severe pain compared with the control group, t(4125) = 2.67, P = 0.007. In addition, the intervention group reported no instances of moderate to severe pain toward the end of the study period.
conclusionPain Buddy is an innovative and interactive mHealth application that aims to improve pain and symptom management among children with cancer. The findings from this pilot study suggest that Pain Buddy may aid in the reduction of pain severity in children during cancer treatment.
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