Virtual Intervention for Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Lung cancer is unique because of racial disparity, persistent mortality rate, and social stigma. Lung cancer stigma (LCS) and difficult patient-clinician communication may be an underlying factor in health disparities in lung cancer. The purpose of this study is to PILOT test, in a diverse sample of lung cancer patients the effectiveness of the mHealth Tool for Lung Cancer patients (mHealthTLC), an interactive, immersive 3-dimensional iPad application that allows individuals to experience first person virtual visits with their clinicians, to improve patient-clinician communication, decrease LCS, and promote optimal self-management. The study hypotheses are that patients who receive the mHealth TLC will improve their ability to communicate effectively with their clinicians and will report decreased stigma related to their lung cancer diagnosis compared to the attention control group.