Empowering patients in the age of intelligence: A scoping review of digital and intelligent support strategies for symptom management in colorectal cancer patients
Yufan Xie, Yuting Jiang, Yifei Lu, Yuying Cai, Boyan Hu, Jianan QinObjective
To identify the implementation platforms and management models, core functions and content elements, outcome measures, and application effects of digital and intelligent (D&I) support strategies in symptom management.
Methods
Guided by the scoping review framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley, a systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, and SinoMed for studies on the application of D&I support strategies in symptom management for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The search period was from database inception to February 11, 2026. Two researchers independently performed literature screening and data extraction, followed by a descriptive analysis of the included studies.
Results
A total of 17 articles were included. The carriers of D&I support strategies included APPs, WeChat mini-programs, wearable devices, voice systems, VR, and cloud platforms. Core content encompassed symptom self-management, personalized rehabilitation, real-time alerts, remote consultation, psychological support, and peer interaction. Strategies were categorized by intelligence level into data collection type and intelligent decision-making type. Outcome measures involved symptom burden, quality of life, psychological state, self-care ability, nutritional status, compliance, and satisfaction.
Conclusion
Existing studies preliminarily verify the feasibility and potential benefits of D&I support strategies, but issues remain such as lack of theory, insufficient long-term evidence, and limited data on the applicability of these interventions to older patients. Future efforts should integrate theoretical frameworks, strengthen long-term follow-up and age-friendly design, and incorporate multi-source data with AI-assisted decision-making to promote the development of precise and intelligent symptom management.