Boosting mental health of young cancer survivors through the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre (ECPDC)

Expected Outcome: Proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed and tailored towards and contribute to the following expected outcomes: Through the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre (ECPDC), adolescent and young cancer patients and survivors as well as their caregivers have access to innovative tools and approaches to strengthen their mental health; Healthcare professionals have access to innovative tools to monitor and support the mental health of cancer patients and survivors as well as their caregivers Researchers and healthcare professionals have access and use reliable patient reported data to better understand the mental health needs of cancer patients and survivors and provide effective care. Scope: As part of its citizens engagement activities, the EU Cancer Mission has launched a dialogue with young cancer survivors, to better understand the specific needs and challenges faced during and after treatment. Mental health has been systematically highlighted as a major concern, stressing the importance of access to quality psychosocial support including through virtual, digital means along the different stages of the patient’s journey, at diagnosis, during and after treatment. The communication on a Comprehensive approach to mental health adopted by the European Commission on 7 June 2023 [1] calls for the establishment of a platform to boost mental health of young cancer survivors. In line with this ambition, the overall goal of this topic is to develop an online platform targeting, adolescents, and young adult (AYA) cancer patients and survivors (age 15-39, age of first diagnosis) to address specifically their mental health needs, throughout their journey, at diagnosis, during and after treatment. In particular: The digital platform should be developed as a module to be fully integrated within the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre whose information portal is currently under development (project EU-CIP [2] ). Clear links with EU-CIP should therefore be established and solutions developed to link the two projects, including operational solutions and sustainability. The platform should include a mix of innovative personalized, evidence-based, and interactive features building on state-of-the-art research to address the mental health needs of AYA patients and survivors [3] . Both cognitive (thinking, reasoning, memory, perceptual etc.), affective (depression, anxiety, etc.), and behaviour change aspects should be considered. The innovative nature of proposed solutions should be clearly demonstrated. Multi-device co…