SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Digital Public Health
This article is part of the Research TopicSerious Games and XR in Public Health: Capturing Attention to Deliver Life-Saving InformationView all articles
Cancer Survivors' Experiences with mHealth Interventions for PA: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Third Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
- 2Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
- 3Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, China
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Background: Global cancer is rising, and many survivors struggle to stay active despite clear health benefits. Mobile health tools can help with tracking and guidance, but users' real needs and barriers are unclear. This qualitative metasynthesis summarizes what survivors want, what helps, and what gets in the way. Methods: We systematically searched CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, and CINAHL from inception to April 2025. Qualitative studies (or qualitative components of mixed-methods studies) exploring survivors' experiences with mHealth-supported PA were eligible. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and appraised methodological quality using the JBI qualitative checklist (2016). Findings were integrated via meta-synthesis, and confidence in synthesized findings was graded with the ConQual approach. Reporting followed ENTREQ. Results: Twelve qualitative studies (n=243 participants; 8 countries) were included. Fifty findings were aggregated into 11 categories and synthesized into 3 higher-order findings: (1) survivors have multidimensional needs regarding content tailoring, professional input, social features, and usable design; (2) mHealth can strengthen motivation, self-efficacy, and convenience for engaging in PA; and (3) participation is shaped by patient-related, technology-related, and economic factors. Conclusion: Addressing survivors' motivations, lived experiences, and practical barriers—through personalization, professional guidance, privacy-preserving social support, and robust technical design—may enhance adoption and sustained use of mHealth for PA in cancer survivorship.
Keywords: cancer survivors, mHealth, PA, experience, Qualitative meta-synthesis
Received: 28 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chu, Sheng, Bai, Song and Fan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: JiaShuai Chu, 2196246020@qq.com
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