Activating Technology for Connected Health in Cancer: Protocol for a Research and Training Program.

Background: As cancer survival rates increase, the challenge of ensuring that cancer survivors reclaim their quality of life (QoL) becomes more important. This paper outlines the research element of a research and training program that is designed to do just that.
Objective: Bridging sectors, disciplines, and geographies, it brings together eight PhD projects and students from across Europe to identify the underlying barriers, test different technology-enabled rehabilitative approaches, propose a model to optimize the patient pathways, and examine the business models that might underpin a sustainable approach to cancer survivor reintegration using technology.
Methods: The program, funded under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722012, includes deep disciplinary PhD projects, intersectoral and international secondments, interdisciplinary plenary training schools, and virtual subject-specific education modules.
Results: The 8 students have now been recruited and are at the early stages of their projects.
Conclusions: CATCH will provide a comprehensive training and research program by embracing all key elements-technical, social, and economic sciences-required to produce researchers and project outcomes that are capable of meeting existing and future needs in cancer rehabilitation.
(©Nicola Mountford, Enrique Dorronzoro Zubiete, Threase Kessie, Begonya Garcia-Zapirain, Roberto Nuño-Solinís, David Coyle, Kristin B Munksgaard, Luis Fernandez-Luque, Octavio Rivera Romero, Matilde Mora Fernandez, Pedro Valero Jimenez, Ailish Daly, Ruth Whelan, Brian Caulfield. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 24.01.2018.)