Leveraging an academic-industry partnership to develop a cancer-specific mobile meditation APP - 1 project summary/abstract 2 approximately 15.5 million US cancer patients/survivors experience a…

Leveraging an academic-industry partnership to develop a cancer-specific mobile meditation APP - 1 project summary/abstract 2 approximately 15.5 million US cancer patients/survivors experience a host of residual symptoms (e.g., 3 fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain, sleep disturbance) and reduced quality of life that are often not resolved with 4 even the best-available current standard of care therapies. Residual symptom burden impairs cancer survivor 5 functioning and leads to increased rates of disability and healthcare utilization, costing $125 billion every year. 6 cancer patients/survivors want and need complementary strategies to accompany standard therapies. 7 research has demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness-based therapies, such as meditation, for 8 alleviating cancer-related symptoms (e.g., fatigue, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance).meditation-based 9 programs are typically conducted in-person, in clinic settings; however, these programs are expensive and 10 difficult to sustain, and cancer patients report barriers to participating (e.g., travel demands, fatigue, pain, and 11 scheduling difficulties). Smartphone-based meditation is a feasible and novel method for delivering meditation 12 to cancer patients/survivors. Mobile apps and online meditation programs have demonstrated short-term benefits 13 for cancer patients/survivors; however, the currently available commercial meditation apps are limited in their 14 engagement, acceptability, and applicability to cancer patients/survivors' unique experiences and have not been 15 evaluated for feasibility or efficacy. There is an unmet need for a commercially-available, evidence-based 16 meditation APP specifically designed for cancer patients/survivors. Incorporating stakeholder feedback (i.e., 17 patients and healthcare providers) in the early design phase will facilitate the development of a meditation APP 18 truly targeted for the end users that can be made commercially available, thereby improving uptake and impact 19 in patient populations. Calm, a popular consumer-based meditation APP with 70 million downloads and 2 million 20 subscribers, provides a platform from which to develop an accessible standalone cancer-specific meditation APP. 21 this project will: 1) gather feedback about the current calm APP from an advisory committee (n=20) consisting 22 of cancer patients/survivors (n=10, 5 of each) and healthcare providers (n=10), 2) design a cancer-specific 23 meditation APP prototype, and 3) beta-test the prototype in cancer patients/survivors (n=30). 24 a standalone meditation APP designed for and tested by cancer patients/survivors, leveraging a popular 25 and validated meditation APP platform, to be made commercially available, is innovative and could provide a 26 scalable, highly engaging symptom-management tool that addresses cancer patients/survivors' unique needs. 27 if our key feasibility milestones are met, we will further refine the cancer-specific APP and conduct a randomized 28 controlled trial to determine the APP's long-term efficacy in reducing symptom burden in cancer patients/survivors 29 (phase 2) that can later be commercialized and marketed to cancer patients/survivors, healthcare providers, and 30 clinics. (phase 3).