SynthesisJournal of cancer survivorship : research and practice2025
Systematic review on the effectiveness of mobile health applications on mental health of breast cancer survivors.
Synthesis in Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of eHealth interventions in long-term follow-up care for breast and gynecological cancer survivors: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Health Interventions to Improve Mental Health in Patients With Cancer: Umbrella Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Digitalization in Breast Cancer Care: Health App Use and Patient Needs-A Cross-Sectional Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Engagement With Mobile Health Apps for Adults With Long-Term Conditions: Overview of Systematic Reviews.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Review
- Effect of an integrated mHealth supportive care program on symptom burden and self-efficacy in post-treatment breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- Reluctance to Use a Psycho-Oncology Mobile App Among Patients With Primary Breast Cancer: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Survey.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Efficacy of an app for self-efficacy of patients with cancer through tailored information delivery and coaching: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Evidence-based digital health interventions for breast cancer survivors' care: an umbrella review.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Mobile App for Breast Cancer Self-Management on Self-Efficacy: Nonrandomized Intervention Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Systematic interventions based on the stress-induced situation, affective, bodily, and cognitive reactions framework to mitigate psychological distress in lung cancer patients post-thoracoscopic surgery: a randomized clinical trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Acceptability and Scalability of a Meditation App Among Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.Cureus · 2024Article
- Review
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 at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeBreast cancer survivors are more likely to report psychological distress and unmet need for support compared to healthy controls. Psychological mobile health interventions might be used in follow-up care of breast cancer patients to improve their mental health.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Cochrane and PROSPERO for articles on controlled trials examining the effectiveness of psychological mobile health interventions compared to routine care regarding mental health outcomes of adult breast cancer survivors. This review followed the PRISMA statement and was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022312972). Two researchers independently reviewed publications, extracted data and assessed risk of bias.
resultsAfter screening 204 abstracts published from 2005 to February 2023, eleven randomised trials involving 2249 patients with a mean age between 43.9 and 56.2 years met the inclusion criteria. All interventions used components of cognitive behavioural therapy. Most studies applied self-guided interventions. Five studies reported percentages of patients never started (range = 3-15%) or discontinued the intervention earlier (range = 3-36%). No long-term effect > 3 months post intervention was reported. Three of seven studies reported a significant short-term intervention effect for distress. Only one study each showed an effect for depression (1/5), anxiety (1/5), fear of recurrence (1/4) and self-efficacy (1/3) compared to a control group.
conclusionsA wide variance of interventions was used. Future studies should follow guidelines in developing and reporting their mobile interventions and conduct long-term follow-up to achieve reliable and comparable results. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: No clear effect of psychological mobile health interventions on patients' mental health could be shown. REGISTRATION: PROSPERO ID 312972.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.