Enhancing Therapy Adherence Among Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that patients with advanced cancer, such as those with MBC, often exhibit significant levels of nonadherence to oral anticancer treatments. Leveraging of the machine learning models in clinical practice enables the provision of personalized predictions on medication adherence for individual patients, thereby supporting adherence and facilitating targeted interventions. Objective: The current protocol aims to assess the efficacy of the DSS, a web-based solution named TREAT (TREatment Adherence SupporT), and a machine learning web application in promoting adherence to oral anticancer treatments within a sample of MBC patients. Methods and Design: This protocol is part of a project titled "Enhancing Therapy Adherence Among Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients" (Tracking Number 65080791). A sample of 100 MBC patients is enrolled consecutively and admitted to the Division of Medical Senology of the European Institute of Oncology. 50 MBC patients receive the DSS for three months (experimental group), while 50 MBC patients not subjected to the intervention receive standard medical advice (control group). The protocol foresees three assessment time points: T1 (1-Month), T2 (2-Month), and T3 (3-Month). At each time point, participants fill out a set of self-reports evaluating adherence, clinical, psychological, and QoL variables. Conclusions: our results will inform about the effectiveness of the DSS and risk-predictive models in fostering adherence to oral anticancer treatments in MBC patients.