Impact of mHealth on Postoperative Quality of Life, Self-Management, and Dysfunction in Patients With Oral and Maxillofacial Tumors: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial

Abstract Background With a focus on postoperative dysfunctions that may occur after maxillofacial tumor resection and the difficulties faced during home rehabilitation, we developed a mobile health app based on nurse-patient cooperation. The app extends rehabilitation care from hospital to home with the help of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and other technologies, thus helping patients to better carry out their home functional rehabilitation and meet their health needs. Objective The primary objective of this quasi-experimental study is to evaluate the impact of the Intelligent Home Rehabilitation Care Platform on the quality of life, self-management, and functional impairment in patients with oral and maxillofacial head and neck tumors. We aim to determine whether the intervention through this platform can lead to significant improvements in these areas compared with traditional postdischarge care methods. Methods In this study, patients with oral and maxillofacial head and neck tumors who had undergone surgery were recruited from allied hospitals in the Yangtze River Delta region, divided into an experimental group (n=138) and a control group (n=123), and received either the Intelligent Home Rehabilitation Care Platform intervention or the conventional health care and guidance, respectively. The intervention lasted 3 months, and the patients’ quality of life, self-management efficacy, and improvement in dysfunction were assessed at 1 week (baseline), 1 month (T1), and 3 months (T2) postoperatively. SPSS software (IBM Corp) was used to perform the chi-square test, rank sum test, t test, repeated-measures ANOVA, and generalized estimation equation for data analysis. Results We analyzed the effects of the quality of life and self-management using the generalized estimating equation method. The generalized estimating equation results showed that after adjusting for age, sex, pathological histology, cancer stage, and primary site, the intervention group had a significantly higher improvement in quality of life than the control group at the T2 (regression coefficient, β=−68.020, 95 % CI −116.639 to −19.412; P =.006) stage. The degree of improvement in self-management efficacy was significantly higher in the T1 (regression coefficient, β =−7.030, 95 % CI −9.540 to −4.520; P <.001) and T2 (regression coefficient, β =−13.245, 95 % CI −16.923 to −9.566; P <.001) stages than in the control group. The results of repeated-measures ANOVA and rank sum test showed that the experimental group showed improvements in shoulder function, dysphagia, and trismus after mHealth intervention; however, the differences were not significant. Conclusions The Intelligent Home Rehabilitation Care Platform interventions can effectively enhance patients’ self-management efficacy, improving quality of life and facilitate recovery from dysfunctions. Therefore, mHealth may be used in oncology care to provide smarter home self-care for patients.