Developing self care digital trainings for people with cancer
We’re happy to share our latest publication on using implementation research methods for developing self care digital trainings for people with cancer, now published in the Journal of Cancer Education.
In this project, we developed two digital trainings enabling people with cancer to self-administer acupressure or a mindfulness-based exercise to support cancer-related fatigue and sleep problems.
Using an implementation research method and a participative approach, we worked closely with affected persons, clinicians, Mind Body Medicine therapists, and teaching experts to iteratively shape the trainings. This process helped ensure that the digital trainings were not only evidence-based, but also relevant, understandable, and applicable in real-world oncology care.
The results were encouraging: Patients and healthcare professionals reported high levels of satisfaction, clarity, and confidence in applying the techniques. Importantly, face-to-face validation confirmed that acupressure could be correctly self-administered after completing the digital training, and participants found the mindfulness instructions both comprehensible and repeatable.
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The next step is already underway. The digital trainings developed here are now being used as an intervention in our ongoing clinical trial, ICanSelfCare. Within these trials, we are investigating whether digitally delivered self care techniques can improve fatigue and sleep over a six-week period, compared to not using these techniques.
Given that self care techniques are most effective when applied consistently, the digital trainings described in our publication have been expanded into a structured six-week course for the clinical trials. This course integrates behaviour change techniques to support the long-term integration of self care into daily life.
Full publication (open access)
Thomae, A.V., Brüllmann, S., Zhang, L. et al. Developing Self Care Digital Trainings for Cancer Patients: An Implementation Research Project with Broad Stakeholder Engagement. J Canc Educ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-026-02861-w