Daynamica, a startup pioneering new methods for capturing real-world human activity data, has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, entitled “App-Assisted Day Reconstruction to Reduce Treatment Burden and Logistic Toxicity in Cancer Patients” (1R41CA271962-01), will allow Daynamica to develop an innovative mobile app for cancer patients.
Each year, over 1.7 million new cancer patients in the U.S. undergo intense treatments that impose significant logistical challenges in their daily lives. This “logistic toxicity” – the negative impacts on well-being from the logistical burden of treatment-related tasks – is an issue that has been largely unmeasured and unaddressed in current cancer care.
Daynamica’s app aims to be the first digital health tool to enable remote monitoring of logistic toxicity for cancer patients. It will apply the “day reconstruction” method, initially developed by well-being researchers, to collect data on patients’ daily activity engagement and well-being related to treatment tasks.
The key innovation is the integration of mobile sensing and machine learning techniques to “assist” patients in reconstructing their day. This reduces recall errors and need for manual input. The app will prompt patients to provide subjective well-being ratings that sensors cannot detect, generating comprehensive logistic toxicity measures.
Over the course of the grant’s three aims, Daynamica will design the app based on stakeholder input, develop and test prototypes, and conduct field testing with 60 diverse cancer patients undergoing treatment. Patients will evaluate the app’s ability to capture out-of-home and home treatment activities, the input interface, and usefulness of logistic toxicity reports.
The long-term goal is for the app to be used in larger studies examining ways to reduce logistic toxicity and improve outcomes through care coordination, telemedicine, and home treatments.