JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Older cancer survivors face age- and treatment-related comorbidities, including physical functional impairment, which are exacerbated by physical inactivity and sedentary behavior. Regular physical activity can reduce this risk, yet less than 30% of older cancer survivors meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity.

Objective:

This paper describes the design, methods, and rationale for a remotely delivered intervention that utilizes a whole-of-day approach to physical activity in older cancer survivors. This approach focuses on the accumulation of intermittent bouts of light-intensity activity throughout the entire day, by disrupting and reducing sedentary activity. The intervention was guided by social cognitive and self-determination theories, and incorporated motivational interviewing.

Methods:

The 12-week Move for Your Health trial randomized 64 older cancer survivors to a theory-based physical activity intervention or a waitlist control. A Fitbit activity tracker and smartphone app were used to promote awareness of activity levels and enable self-monitoring of both activity and inactivity in tandem with health coaching phone calls. Motivational interviewing was used to engage participants and tailor strategies to achieve goals during the 12-week intervention. Data was collected at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and longer-term follow-up (3-months thereafter). Feasibility outcomes included recruitment, retention, adherence, adverse events, and acceptability. Other outcomes included obtaining the parameter estimates for changes in physical function, physical performance, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and quality of life.

Results:

Recruitment for the Move for Your Health randomized controlled trial was completed in June of 2023. Data collection was completed in March 2024. Data analyses are ongoing.

Conclusions:

The results of this trial will provide information on the feasibility of implementing this intervention in the target patient population, and data that will provide information about the potential impact of the intervention on the outcomes. Both of these outcomes will inform the design of a larger randomized controlled trial to more fully test a physical activity intervention in an older cancer survivor population. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05582889; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05582889