A home‐based mentored vegetable gardening intervention demonstrates feasibility and improvements in physical activity and performance among breast cancer survivors

BACKGROUND The current study assessed the feasibility of a mentored home‐based vegetable gardening intervention and examined changes in health‐related outcomes among breast cancer survivors (BCS). METHODS BCS were randomized to either a year‐long vegetable gardening intervention to begin immediately or a wait‐list control. Master Gardeners mentored participants in planning, planting, and maintaining 3 seasonal gardens over the course of 1 year. Participant accrual, retention, and satisfaction rates of ≥80% served as feasibility (primary outcome) benchmarks. Secondary outcomes (ie, vegetable consumption, physical activity, performance and function, anthropometrics, biomarkers, and health‐related quality of life) were collected at baseline and post‐intervention (1‐year follow‐up) using subjective and objective measures. RESULTS The trial surpassed all feasibility benchmarks at 82% of targeted accrual, 95% retention, and 100% satisfaction (ie, experience ratings of “good to excellent” and willingness to “do it again”). Compared with the controls, intervention participants reported significantly greater improvements in moderate physical activity (+14 vs ‐17 minutes/week) and demonstrated improvements in the 2‐Minute Step Test (+22 vs + 10 steps), and Arm Curl (+2.7 vs + 0.1 repetitions) (P values