Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jul 13, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 13, 2026 - Sep 7, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Integrative Assessment in Oncological Physiotherapy (IN-GUIDE): Protocol for a Sequential Evidence Synthesis and Delphi Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
The growing number of cancer survivors experiencing persistent physical, psychological, and social limitations is placing increasing pressure on health care systems and this requires more structured, biopsychosocial approaches to care. Oncological physiotherapy plays a key role within multidisciplinary teams; however, assessment practices remain heterogeneous, with limited standardization, unclear clinical applicability, and a lack of consensus on appropriate measurement instruments despite existing conceptual frameworks.
Objective:
Objective:
This study aims to develop an evidence-informed, consensus-based framework (IN-GUIDE) for the selection, prioritization, and implementation of assessment instruments in oncological physiotherapy, integrating psychometric and clinimetric evidence with clinical applicability to support measurement-based care.
Methods:
Methods:
A multiphase, sequential mixed-methods design will be used. First, a systematic review will be conducted following PRISMA guidelines to identify assessment instruments relevant to oncological physiotherapy with methodological quality, measurement properties, and level of evidence appraised using COSMIN standards. Eligible instruments include patient-reported, clinician-reported, and performance-based outcome measures. This review protocol was previously registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024520846). Second, a three-round electronic Delphi (e-Delphi) process will be conducted via a secure REDCap platform. A multidisciplinary expert panel will evaluate instruments on the basis of an integrated assessment of methodological quality, level of evidence, clinical relevance, and feasibility. Instruments will be organized into eight predefined domains. Structured feedback (median, interquartile range, and percentage agreement) will be provided between rounds. Consensus will be defined a priori as ≥75% agreement.
Results:
Expected results: Preparatory work, including framework development, has been ongoing since late 2024. The systematic review phase began at the end of 2025 and is currently ongoing, with completion expected in 2026. The Delphi consensus process will follow, with the final results anticipated by the beginning of 2027.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
The IN-GUIDE framework is expected to support standardized, feasible, and clinically applicable assessments in oncological physiotherapy, facilitating measurement-based care, improving clinical decision-making, and promoting integration across multidisciplinary cancer care. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO CRD42024520846; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024520846
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.