Mobile Health Application for Family Caregivers in Home Palliative Care

Family caregivers play a central role in providing daily care for patients receiving home palliative care. However, caregiving responsibilities may lead to increased burden, stress, and difficulties in symptom management and care coordination. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions may provide accessible education, symptom monitoring, and decision-support resources to improve caregiver outcomes and patient care. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile health application developed for family caregivers of patients receiving home palliative care. The primary outcome is caregiver competence. Secondary outcomes include caregiver burden, self-efficacy, patient symptom burden, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations. A total of 120 family caregivers will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group, which will use the mobile health application for 6 weeks in addition to usual care, or the control group, which will receive usual care alone. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention (Week 6), and follow-up (Week 18).

Inclusion Criteria: * Family caregiver of a patient receiving home palliative care services. * Aged 18 years or older. * Providing unpaid care to the patient for at least 3 months. * Able to read and understand Turkish. * Owns or has regular access to a smartphone compatible with the mobile application. * Willing to participate and provide written informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Professional or paid caregivers. * Participation in another structured caregiver support program during the study period. * Cognitive, visual, or hearing impairments that would prevent effective use of the mobile application. * Inability to complete study assessments. * Withdrawal of consent at any stage of the study.