ACTIVATION: Activity Tracking in Oncology Patients

Collaborative research on mobility and patient-reported outcomes

This interdisciplinary collaboration with the Cumming School of Medicine investigates mobility patterns and patient-reported outcomes in patients with metastatic bone disease (MBD) and sarcoma. The project centers around a novel smartphone application called ACTIVATION (Activity Capture To Investigate Voluntary Activity in Oncology and Normal populations).

Project Overview

The ACTIVATION project addresses critical gaps in understanding patient recovery and quality of life following surgical interventions for metastatic bone disease and sarcoma. By combining objective mobility measurements with subjective patient-reported outcomes, we aim to create a more comprehensive picture of the patient journey and improve clinical care pathways.

Research Objectives

Our collaborative study has four primary aims:

  1. Validation Studies: Conduct pilot studies to validate and evaluate the effectiveness of the ACTIVATION smartphone app for patient activity tracking and patient-reported outcome (PRO) collection.

  2. PRO Analysis: Perform analyses of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Information System (PROMIS) and the Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS) as tools for obtaining PROs.

  3. Mobility Correlations: Evaluate the relationships between patient mobility measurements and their self-reported outcomes.

  4. Barrier Assessment: Investigate potential barriers to PROMIS capture rates based on patient factors including age, gender, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and geographic location.

ACTIVATION Application

The ACTIVATION smartphone application represents a novel approach to measuring patient mobility and outcomes by:

  • Tracking real-world mobility metrics through smartphone sensors
  • Collecting patient-reported outcomes at regular intervals
  • Providing a user-friendly interface for patient engagement
  • Securely transmitting data to research databases

Expected Outcomes

This research will yield several valuable outcomes:

  1. Enhanced Patient Databases: Bolster existing comprehensive patient databases for MBD and sarcoma to capture both objective and subjective measures of the patient surgical journey.

  2. App Validation: Validate the ACTIVATION app as an effective tool for tracking patient mobility and recovery.

  3. PRO Validation: Validate PROMIS for PRO collection in MBD and sarcoma patient populations and compare to the established TESS standard.

  4. Recovery Trends: Establish longitudinal recovery trends in mobility and PROs following surgical management, and understand barriers to PROMIS capture rates.

Project Team

This collaborative project brings together expertise from:

  • Digital Athlete Lab (Faculty of Kinesiology)
  • Cumming School of Medicine
  • McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health
  • Alberta Health Services
  • Graduate students in Exercise Physiology and Medicine