Smartphones: Innovative Tools in Cancer Prevention

Smartphones: Innovative Tools in Cancer Prevention

Nuno Ribeiro (Universidade do Porto, Portugal), Luís Miguel Nunes Silva Alves Moreira (Instituto Piaget, Portugal), Ana Margarida Pisco Almeida (Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal), and Manuel Filipe Santos (University of Minho, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2016 |Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-9978-6.ch081
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Cancer Prevention Using Smartphones

Population-wide measures targeting behaviors like inadequate sun exposure, smoking, excessive alcohol use, eating a poor diet, and physical inactivity could reduce overall cancer incidence in fifty per cent (Stein & Colditz, 2004). The European Code Against Cancer (Boyle et al., 2003) defines the following guidelines: (1) Do not smoke; (2) Avoid obesity; (3) Undertake some brisk physical activity every day; (4) Increase daily intake of vegetables and fruits (at least five servings per day); (5) Limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per day (women and men, respectively); (6) Avoid excessive sun exposure; (7) Enroll in cancer screening tests (cervical, breast and colorectal screening); (8) Participate in vaccination programs against hepatitis B virus and human papilloma virus; (9) Avoid exposure to known cancer-causing substances.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Cancer: Term used to describe more than 100 different diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade surrounding tissues.

Behavior Change Intervention: Broad range of activities and approaches, focused on individual, community and environmental influences on behavior, designed to change behavior.

Smartphone Application: Computer program designed to run on smartphones. Usually refers to simple programs that perform specific functions on the smartphone.

Mobile Phone: Wireless handheld device that can make and receive calls among other features.

Behavior Change: Any transformation or modification of human behavior.

Smartphone: A mobile phone that has more advanced computing capability than basic feature phones. Smartphones typically have a relatively large screen and an operating system capable of running general-purpose applications.

Cancer Prevention: All the active measures that can be taken to decrease the risk of cancer. Includes actions to lower exposure to known cancer risk factors ( primary prevention ) and diagnose pre-malignant forms of cancer ( secondary prevention ).

Healthy Behavior: All behaviors that promote a healthy life. Includes being physically active, having a good diet, not smoking, among other behaviors.

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