BACKROUND
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the
world. Worldwide, there are approximately 2.1 million (2,088,849) newly
diagnosed breast cancer cases in 2018, and about one in four cancer
cases among women is breast cancer 1, 2. Of the women
with breast cancer, approximately two out of three are hormone receptor-
positive (ER + and / or PgR +) 3. EHT is recommended
for women with hormone receptor positive
(ER + and / or PgR +) and to use
Tamoxifen or Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) hormonal agents for at least five
years 3-5. EHT causes problems such as hot flashes
and/or night sweats, headaches, nausea, pain, vaginal dryness, or
discharge 3. Although the effectiveness of EHT
approach has been proven, these common side effects are not life
threatening but can negatively affect the quality of life5, 6. EHT side effects can affect the physical,
emotional, and social well-being of patients 6.
Oncology nurses should undertake the tasks of developing skills and
providing emotional support by effectively communicating with patients,
and providing adequate knowledge and training to improve the QOL of
women with breast cancer 7.
Mobile health (mHealth) is a widely accessible method that provides
healthcare services through portable devices 8. In the
management of cancer patients, the development of new eHealth and
mHealth initiatives has been reported to be promising, especially in the
context of supportive care and follow-up 9. These
applications are important for oncology nurses to be aware10. It has been shown that the use of mHealth
practices in health care management of women with breast cancer has
positive effects. It also emphasizes that mHealth practices can play an
important role in the care of women with breast cancer8.
Many studies were aimed to assess mHealth apps and their impact on
quality of life of women with breast cancer 11- 15.
Zhu et al. studied the effectiveness of the mobile application-based
breast cancer e-support program to support women with breast cancer who
received chemotherapy 12, 13. They found that mobile
application intervention is more effective in increasing self-efficacy
and QOL and reducing symptom burden during chemotherapy13. Given the physical limitations in accessing
healthcare or geographic distance, it has been reported that individuals
use mobile applications as an additional intervention11. In a systematic review, in breast cancer care and
addressed prevention and survivorship mHealth practices have been shown
to have an effect on controlling weight, improving QOL and reducing
stress levels 8. However, the effectiveness of mobile
application was not found significant when compared with routine care in
terms of social support, symptom severity, anxiety, and depression among
patients receiving breast cancer treatment 13. In
Foley et al., it was determined that training materials about surgical
treatments including mobile information application had an alarming
effect on the anxiety levels of women with breast cancer in the
preoperative period 16.
To our knowledge, there is no standardized mobile app for the management
of patients receiving EHT, possible side effects, symptom management,
and QOL and requirements regarding follow and supportive care. The
purpose of this study to find the effect of mobile app-based training on
the QOL in women with breast cancer using EHT.
The hypotheses for the study is:
H1: Mobile training influences the quality of life of women with breast
cancer.