Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 25, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 25, 2025 - Aug 20, 2025
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Report on a pilot study of "a home-based and group-based tele-exercise program for breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial"
ABSTRACT
Background:
Breast cancer remains the most prevalent cancer among women globally, with significant incidence and mortality rates. Adjuvant therapies, while standard, often lead to adverse effects impacting physical and mental health. Exercise has shown potential in mitigating these effects, yet many breast cancer survivors remain insufficiently active.
Objective:
This study explores a novel 12-week tele-exercise protocol tailored for breast cancer survivors in Hong Kong, integrating psychological theories and behaviour change techniques to foster sustainable exercise habits.
Methods:
Conducted as a pilot study, this two-group randomized controlled trial involved 24 participants undergoing adjuvant therapy. The intervention group received a progressively supervised tele-exercise regimen, transitioning to unsupervised sessions, combined with psychological counselling. Outcomes were assessed using the RE-AIM framework, focusing on feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary health effects.
Results:
Results indicated high recruitment (70.6%) and retention (100%) rates, with satisfactory attendance (87.7%) and compliance (69.4%) in the intervention group. Participants reported high acceptability. Exercise-induced improvements in cardiopulmonary fitness (the primary outcome), lower extremity muscular strength, balance, shoulder ROM on the affected side, and health-related quality of life metrics were promising.
Conclusions:
This pilot demonstrates the acceptability, feasibility, and potential effectiveness of the tele-exercise in breast cancer rehabilitation, suggesting it as a viable alternative to traditional exercise interventions. Future research should explore long-term sustainability and broader applicability of tele-exercise to enhance recovery and quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Clinical Trial: NCT06382441
Citation
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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.