Better Understanding the Daily Lives of Cancer Survivors Study

Your Experience Matters

Researchers at the University of Virginia are partnering with individuals diagnosed with cancer in the past 5 years to better understand their day-to-day experiences. Join our compensated study today!

Fast Facts

diagnosed with cancer in the past 5 years

18 Years and Older

Compensation Provided

Conducted remotely

Study Background

Looking to Make a Difference for Future Cancer Survivors?

To make more precise and effective mental health programs for cancer survivors, researchers need to do a better job of understanding their day-to-day experiences.

A goal of psychosocial interventions in cancer populations is to provide timely support (e.g., for stress management, sleep) for the right people, at the right time, at the right level. This level of precision can only be afforded if researchers develop a better understanding of when, where, how much, and for whom to deliver their behavioral/psychosocial interventions.

This study will provide critical observational data, through cancer survivors’ smartphones, that will inform the development of just-in-time interventions.

This study is purely observational. It does not involve an intervention, treatment of any kind, therapeutic drugs, or biospecimen collection.

Your participation in this study may help researchers improve behavioral interventions for cancer survivors. Further research today and join our compensated study!

Additional Information

The purpose of this research study is to observe the day-to-day lives of cancer survivors in the US in terms of their emotions, health behaviors, and interpersonal interactions.

You may qualify for this study if you meet the following criteria.

Key Criteria:

  • 18+ years old
  • 0-5 years post-diagnosis of any type of cancer
  • Willing to keep your phone turned on and enable location sensor during the study participation period (though smartphone settings). This is important because one of the goals of this study is to determine whether people’s smartphone data can help determine how they are feeling, without having to repeatedly ask them, to develop more precise interventions that are tailored to individual people.

The study involves downloading a confidential smartphone app for five weeks and completing an online survey at the beginning of the study. The smartphone app will ask you to complete three brief surveys every day regarding your feelings and behavior. The surveys take a few minutes each to complete. The smartphone app will also collect information from your phone’s sensors, though only enabling location data is required for this study. You do not need to interact directly with the app in any way.

All data collected by the app is securely stored, confidential, and only accessible by our study team. Technical assistance will be available to those who need it. All study procedures are done remotely.

Compensation is provided up to $100 for your time and effort.

There is no cost for you to participate in the study.