TY - JOUR
T1 - Barriers to supervised exercise training in a randomized controlled trial of breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy
AU - Courneya, Kerry S.
AU - McKenzie, Donald C.
AU - Reid, Robert D.
AU - MacKey, John R.
AU - Gelmon, Karen
AU - Friedenreich, Christine M.
AU - Ladha, Aliya B.
AU - Proulx, Caroline
AU - Lane, Kirstin
AU - Vallance, Jeffrey K.
AU - Segal, Roanne J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgment This study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance. KSC is supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program. RDR is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. CMF is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and a Health Scholar Award from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). JKV was supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship from CIHR and an Incentive Award from AHFMR. The authors gratefully acknowledge Lisa Workman, MA, Neil Eves, PhD, John McGavock, PhD, Kristin Campbell, PhD, Margaret McNeely, BScPT, MSc, Diana Jespersen, RN, Chris Scott, BSc, Lianne Dolan, MSc., Ben Wilson, BSc, Christopher Sellar, MS, and Diane Cook, BPE for their assistance with the trial.
PY - 2008/2
Y1 - 2008/2
N2 - Background: Exercise adherence is a challenge for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy but few studies have identified the key barriers. Purpose: In this paper, we report the barriers to supervised exercise in breast cancer patients participating in a randomized controlled trial. Methods: Breast cancer patients initiating adjuvant chemotherapy (N=242) were randomly assigned to usual care (n=82) or supervised resistance (n=82) or aerobic (n=78) exercise. Participants randomized to the two exercise groups (n=160) were asked to provide a reason for each missed exercise session. Results: The two exercise groups attended 70.2% (5,495/7,829) of their supervised exercise sessions and provided a reason for missing 89.5% (2,090/2,334) of their unattended sessions. The 2,090 reasons represented 36 different barriers. Feeling sick (12%), fatigue (11%), loss of interest (9%), vacation (7%), and nausea/vomiting (5%) accounted for the most missed exercise sessions. Disease/treatment-related barriers (19 of the 36 barriers) accounted for 53% (1,102/2,090) of all missed exercise sessions. Demographic and medical variables did not predict the types of exercise barriers reported. Conclusions: Barriers to supervised exercise in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are varied but over half can be directly attributed to the disease and its treatments. Behavioral support programs need to focus on strategies to maintain exercise in the face of difficult treatment side effects.
AB - Background: Exercise adherence is a challenge for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy but few studies have identified the key barriers. Purpose: In this paper, we report the barriers to supervised exercise in breast cancer patients participating in a randomized controlled trial. Methods: Breast cancer patients initiating adjuvant chemotherapy (N=242) were randomly assigned to usual care (n=82) or supervised resistance (n=82) or aerobic (n=78) exercise. Participants randomized to the two exercise groups (n=160) were asked to provide a reason for each missed exercise session. Results: The two exercise groups attended 70.2% (5,495/7,829) of their supervised exercise sessions and provided a reason for missing 89.5% (2,090/2,334) of their unattended sessions. The 2,090 reasons represented 36 different barriers. Feeling sick (12%), fatigue (11%), loss of interest (9%), vacation (7%), and nausea/vomiting (5%) accounted for the most missed exercise sessions. Disease/treatment-related barriers (19 of the 36 barriers) accounted for 53% (1,102/2,090) of all missed exercise sessions. Demographic and medical variables did not predict the types of exercise barriers reported. Conclusions: Barriers to supervised exercise in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are varied but over half can be directly attributed to the disease and its treatments. Behavioral support programs need to focus on strategies to maintain exercise in the face of difficult treatment side effects.
KW - Breast Cancer
KW - Chemotherapy
KW - Exercise Barriers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42549167092&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12160-007-9009-4
DO - 10.1007/s12160-007-9009-4
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 18347912
AN - SCOPUS:42549167092
SN - 0883-6612
VL - 35
SP - 116
EP - 122
JO - Annals of Behavioral Medicine
JF - Annals of Behavioral Medicine
IS - 1
ER -