By Melissa Levin, LICSW, and Jen Brown, LICSW

Every day, we are faced with guiding our patients through a treatment marathon that can be overwhelming. “Take one medication X hours before chemo. Take another medication X hours after chemo. Keep track of your protein intake. Drink this shake if you are eating too little but be careful not to eat too much. Prepare for your important work meeting tomorrow morning but remember to relax.  Expect stress, but don’t lose sleep over it.” They are overloaded by do’s, don’ts, and decisions throughout their cancer journeys. Their resiliency in navigating these logistics and stressors is unmatched.

As social workers, our job is to partner with patients so we can find solutions to these dilemmas. Technology is often a part of this equation. We search for websites, apps and other devices that can help our patients.  New technologies are developed every day and yet the process of identifying what may meet our individual patient needs can be burdensome.

We regularly demonstrate technology options and usage in our neurodiversity-affirming clinical work. We promote our patients’ usage of augmentative and assistive communication devices, speech-to-text and text-to-speech functionality, and supplemental visual aids. Regardless of cancer type or stage, patients often seek support with their day-to-day management of symptoms, emotional wellness, and executive functioning. Many patients are eager to find technology that may be helpful to integrate into their daily life.

For cancer patients navigating treatment, it can be difficult to keep track of how they are feeling at any point in time such as energy level, mood, cognitive vs. physical fatigue, etc.

Between multiple medical appointments, it can be overwhelming to remember or know how to answer questions like, “How are you feeling?” or “How is your mood/energy?” when things shift so much from week to week – and certainly from day to day. Patients with cognitive issues such as “chemo brain,” or any sort of brain fog may especially struggle with recalling a complete picture of how they have been feeling, i.e., was the fatigue worse this week or last week? Has their mood fluctuated frequently, or have they been feeling more depressed than usual for a steady period of time?

With this in mind, here is a roundup of smartphone apps that may be beneficial for patients and their loved ones in navigating the health care system, practicing self-care, and tracking and managing their symptoms:

Meditation and Relaxation apps:

• BetterSleep: Well-rated app that includes soothing sleep sounds, tips for sleep hygiene, meditations, a sleep tracker, and more.
  • Free to download, paid access only to certain features; available via iOS and Android.
• Insight Timer: Includes a library of thousands of meditations categorized by type, breathwork exercises, and music. Additional features also include journaling, mood check-ins, and quotations.
  • Free, available for use, paid access only to certain features; available via iOS and Android.

Mood Tracking apps:

• How We Feel: “The How We Feel Project is a nonprofit organization created by scientists, designers, engineers, and therapists to help everyone better understand their own emotions.” This visually appealing app works like a digital journal by prompting the user to check in on their emotional state at various points during the day by selecting from a wide arrange of emotions and associated colors.
  • Free, available for use.
• Daylio: Described as a mood journal and digital bullet journal, the app allows users to record their thoughts and feelings at different points in time in addition to identifying their emotions. Daylio analyzes this data over time and provides users with a snapshot of changes in mood and general emotional wellbeing over the course of days, weeks, months, and even a full year in review.
  • Free, available via iOS and Android.

Apps to Help with Cognitive Challenges and Executive Functioning Difficulties:

• Magic ToDo – GoblinTools: Hailed as groundbreaking for anyone who struggles with executive functioning, Goblin Tools is more than just a typical list generator or task organizer. It can estimate the length of time a task might take, break larger projects or tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, and even generate recipes based on a list of ingredients that the user adds.
  • Free; available via iOS, Android and as a desktop app.
• Constant Therapy: “Brain rehab” in a smartphone app, particularly tailored toward patients recovering from or living with aphasia, dementia and other neurological conditions.
  • Two-week free trial, then paid access pricing starting at $29.99/month. The site offers several ways to support patients and families in accessing Constant Therapy resources and exercises if cost is a barrier.
  • Patients who have been referred to speech and/or cognitive therapy may especially benefit, and can use this tool with their speech therapist.

Cancer-specific apps:

• Bearable: Symptom and mood tracker, helps users notice patterns and trends, set reminders, create goals and more; holistic approach that incorporates mental and physical health symptoms. Bearable was founded by someone with chronic migraines, so there is the appeal of a platform designed by a patient for patients with chronic illness. To this end, the app’s website states that, “We’re often told by users that of all the health apps they’ve used, Bearable is the app that they were finally able to make a habit of using, even despite issues with brain fog, memory loss and fatigue.”
  • Free with a subscriptionfee to access some feature; available via iOS and Android.
• Wave Health: Described as a symptom tracker and all-in-one health app, Wave can help patients track their vitals, changes in mood and overall wellbeing, and set reminders to take medications.
  • Free, also offers a Pro version that is free for 30 days; monthly paid plans after that point. Available via iOS and Android.
  • Made specifically for cancer and chronic illness patients.
  • Also provides a list of clinical trial opportunities for patients interested in exploring this.
• Health Storylines: An app that allows patients to safely store and track information about their medications, symptoms, mood, weight, blood pressure and more. Users can share health summaries with their providers. Two of the major goals of this app are to promote patients learning about themselves and how their illness(es) impacts their lives.
  • Free, available.

We welcome our AOSW colleagues to share ideas about technology that have assisted patients and loved ones in navigating the health care system, practicing self-care, and tracking and managing their symptoms.  We look forward to sharing a list soon compiling our suggestions.