Patients’ perspectives from Maribor

Three clinical study participants in the University Clinical Center in Maribor, Slovenia, shared their thoughts about the PERSIST study

Patients 1 is a 44-year old woman with breast cancer who feels satisfied with everything in the study. She values the opportunity for regular check-ups with a doctor and this motivated her to join the study along with her interest to the results from the circulating tumor cells blood test. The woman is principally supportive to technologies helping cancer patients and survivors and when asked what she finds interesting in this study she says: ‘It is interesting to record and monitor measurements. It’s good because it diverts your thoughts.’

Patient 2 is a woman at the age of 68, survivor from a colorectal cancer. She believes that her participation in the study helps development and other patients too. She is satisfied with the option to keep track of her records and data. However, the questions about emotions make her feel uncomfortable when intermediate emotion options are missing. Technology is the most interesting part of the study: ‘I would like to know more about the development itself and how this technology works’, the woman says.

Patient 3 is a man of same age, a colorectal cancer survivor. He joined the study because it provided more contacts with doctors and better access to information. The patient enjoys the opportunity to monitor his features and he thinks this may help other patients. According to him, it would be even more useful if the app collects/provides information on nutrition and contains more video tutorials.

Source: UKC Maribor