Exercise facilitators and barriers following participation in a community-based exercise and education program for cancer survivors

Cancer survivors participating in supervised exercise programs learn toexercise safely with oversight from care providers who monitor and facilitatetheir progress. This study investigated the long-term exerciseparticipation levels and identified exercise barriers for graduates from aspecialized cancer exercise and education program. Subjects weregraduates from a 12-week supervised exercise program (www.canwellprogram. ca) who participated in a, prospective, long-term evaluation. Measures included: six-min walk test (6-MWT), STEEP treadmilltest, Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), EdmontonSymptom Assessment System (ESAS), Godin Leisure-Time ExerciseQuestionnaire, and exercise barriers survey. Analysis was performedusing the paired t -test. Fifty-seven (55% of eligible cohort) CanWell participants(mean age= 60; 74% females) were included in this study. Postprogram changes included statistically significant reductions in totalmin on the treadmill and a trend towards improvements in 6-MWT distance. No significant changes were recorded in total FACT-G or ESASscore, however functional well-being approached statistical significantimprovements. The most commonly reported exercise barriers includedfatigue, cost, and return to work. While most participants (86%) believedthey were able to exercise, only 63% reported being able to progresstheir exercise. These finding demonstrated that although CanWell graduateshave substantial support from exercise specialists and most haveearly success with exercise, environment-related factors diminish longtermindependent adherence to exercise. Providing cancer survivorswith the skills needed to monitor and progress their exercise routines,or access to “tune-ups” may increase exercise adherence and maximizebenefits.