Facilitators and Barriers to Implementing Mobile Mental Health Interventions: Qualitative Study of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research in Pediatric Oncology Providers

Abstract

Background: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors experience unique psychosocial needs during and after treatment. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are an emerging area of research to help address unmet psychosocial needs. However, few studies have examined provider perspectives on the design-to-implementation pipeline. Objective: Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), our study aimed to examine provider perspectives on facilitators and barriers to implementing mHealth apps in routine clinical care. Methods: AYA oncology providers participated in a semistructured 1:1 interview on facilitators and barriers to incorporating mHealth apps as psychosocial standard of care. We conducted a directed content analysis of the interviews using a standardized CFIR codebook and construct definitions, with codebook adaptations for mHealth innovations and the population of AYAs with cancer. Results: A total of 20 providers (mean 39, SD 7.0 years; 80% female and 70% non-Hispanic White) representing various medical and psychosocial roles participated in the interviews. The data were analyzed with 16 CFIR constructs. We identified the following facilitators to mHealth implementation across four CFIR domains: (1) Innovation: alignment with patient needs, patient-centered co-design, strong research evidence, and user-friendly design; (2) Outer Setting: shared commitment to addressing mental health needs and openness to mHealth use; (3) Inner Setting: openness to training on mHealth use; and (4) Individuals: engaging key implementation partners such as bedside nurses and social workers and strong clinical team buy-in. We identified the following barriers to mHealth implementation across three CFIR domains: (1) Innovation: associated costs, (2) Outer Setting: heavy clinical workloads, and (3) Inner Setting: lack of cross-team collaboration and communication and clinical workflow integration. Conclusions: Our findings highlight key considerations for mHealth co-design, the adoption of mHealth apps into routine care, implementation strategies, and provider training opportunities in the context of AYA cancer care. Partnering with AYA cancer survivors, families, and providers will be crucial for developing and implementing mHealth apps with the ultimate goal of advancing universally accessible evidence-based digital health care.