Elsevier

Internet Interventions

Volume 1, Issue 4, October 2014, Pages 188-195
Internet Interventions

Development, feasibility and usability of an online psychological intervention for men with prostate cancer: My Road Ahead

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2014.10.001Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • An online psychological intervention was developed for men with prostate cancer.

  • The online intervention was found to be acceptable to men.

  • Feasibility testing resulted in user experience feedback and subsequent improvements to the intervention.

  • Recommendations for the development of other online interventions are provided.

Abstract

Men with prostate cancer are not routinely offered psychosocial support despite strong evidence that being diagnosed with prostate cancer poses significant quality of life concerns and places the patient at elevated risk of developing a range of mental health disorders. The objective of this study was to develop an online psychological intervention for men with prostate cancer and to pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Development of the intervention involved a multidisciplinary collaboration, adapting face-to-face and group intervention strategies for an online format. The full online intervention and moderated forum were pilot tested with 64 participants who were recruited from urology practices in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. After consenting to participate and creating a personal account in the online programme, participants completed baseline demographic questionnaires. Participants were provided access to the programme for 6–12 weeks. After completing the programme participants completed an online survey to assess intervention and forum utilisation and satisfaction, as well as suggest intervention refinements following their use of the intervention. Patient satisfaction was calculated using mean responses to the satisfaction questionnaire. The intervention was received positively with 47.82% of participants highly satisfied with the programme, and 78.26% said they would recommend it to a friend. Participants' qualitative feedback indicated good acceptability of the online intervention. A number of technical and participant engagement issues were identified and changes recommended as a result of the feasibility testing.

Keywords

Prostate cancer
Online
Self-directed
Psychological intervention
Feasibility
User engagement

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