Background: Symptom monitoring application (SMA) has clinical benefits to cancer patients but patients experience difficulties in using it. Few studies have identified which types of graphical user interface (GUI) are preferred by cancer patients for using the SMA.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study aimed to identify preferred GUI among cancer patients to use SMA. Total of 199 patients were asked to evaluate 8 types of GUIs combining text, icon, illustration, and colors using mixed-methods. Subgroup analyses were performed according to age and gender.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 57 and 42.5% was male. The most preferred GUI was "Text + Icon + Color" (mean = 4.43), followed by "Text + Icon" (mean = 4.39). Older patients (≥ 60 years) preferred "Text + Icon" than younger patients (p for interaction < 0.01). Simple and intuitive text and icons were the most useful GUI for cancer patients to use the SMA.

Conclusion: Simple and intuitive text and icons were the most useful GUI for cancer patients to use the SMA. Researchers need to be careful when applying realistic face drawings to cancer symptom monitoring applications because they can recall negative images of cancer.