The Development of iManageCancer: The Experience of a Personalised eHealth Platform for Cancer Patients’ Empowerment

Abstract

Advances in cancer research led to more cancer patients being cured and many more being enabled to live with their cancer. There is an increasing need for cancer patients to take an active, leading role in their healthcare, thus resulting in a better quality of life. Identification of self-management processes for cancer can help to guide future research and clinical practice to improve patient's outcome. In the present chapter, we discuss the development of iManageCancer, a cancer-specific self-management and patient empowerment platform designed according to the needs of patient groups while focusing, in parallel, on the wellbeing of the cancer patients and their families. A Personal Health Record platform (iPHR) is developed, featuring self-management tools including serious games. Emphasis was put on psychoemotional evaluation and self-motivated goals. The use-case requirements and the corresponding system architecture are presented, and the main technological components of the designed platform are described.