Remote Symptom Management in Paediatric Oncology (RESPONSE)

Children with cancer across Queensland will benefit from access to remote symptom management with immediate self-help advice and a clinical alert system. This grant will support research to optimise early intervention for difficult symptoms, reducing distress associated with cancer treatment.

In Queensland, there are no standard tools used to assess symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment in children. Children experience a significant number of distressing symptoms associated with cancer. Up to 30% of patients aged 10-18 years will experience 10 or more symptoms that persist up to two weeks following chemotherapy. However symptoms are subject to recall bias, and may be underreported⁴ or undetected by clinicians. The associated distress can lead to poor treatment adherence, increased hospitalisation and compromised quality-of-life.

This project will use a participatory design process to develop a system for remote symptom monitoring (RESPONSE), and delivery of tailored and personalized self-management advice for children with cancer. Following development of RESPONSE, a prospective pilot interventional study will be undertaken to evaluate the system. Our expected outcomes and potential benefits for children with cancer and the health service include:

• Development of a standard electronic symptom-management tool (RESPONSE) to report and manage the burden of symptoms experienced by children with cancer
• Development of self-management guidelines available in hard and soft copy formats to patients, caregivers and health professionals
• Establish the feasibility, acceptability and safety of RESPONSE for real time remote symptom-management for children with cancer.

To learn more about this project and view the full research team, visit The Paediatric Palliative & Supportive Care Research Group website.