SaludConectaMX: Lessons Learned from Deploying a Cooperative Mobile Health System for Pediatric Cancer Care in Mexico

TL;DR

SaludConectaMX is a novel mobile health system integrating clinical, social, and mental health data to improve pediatric cancer care in Mexico, with preliminary positive usability results and insights for future LMIC health systems.

Contribution

This work introduces a comprehensive social-clinical mobile health system for pediatric cancer management in Mexico, including design, usability evaluation, and development guidelines.

Findings

Hospital web app has high completion and satisfaction.

Family mobile app needs usability improvements.

System offers insights for health system development in LMICs.

Abstract

We developed SaludConectaMX as a comprehensive system to track and understand the determinants of complications throughout chemotherapy treatment for children with cancer in Mexico. SaludConectaMX is unique in that it integrates patient clinical indicators with social determinants and caregiver mental health, forming a social-clinical perspective of the patient's evolving health trajectory. The system is composed of a web application (for hospital staff) and a mobile application (for family caregivers), providing the opportunity for cooperative patient monitoring in both hospital and home settings. This paper presents the system's preliminary design and usability evaluation results from a 1.5-year pilot study. Our findings indicate that while the hospital web app demonstrates high completion rates and user satisfaction, the family mobile app requires additional improvements for optimal accessibility; statistical and qualitative data analysis illuminate pathways for system improvement. Based on this evidence, we formalize suggestions for health system development in LMICs, which HCI researchers may leverage in future work.