Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

Oncology healthcare professionals’ awareness and practice regarding the COSA position statement on exercise in cancer care: Understanding reach and barriers (#449)

Jack Dalla Via 1 , Francesca Cehic 2 , Carolyn J McIntyre 3 , Chris Andrew 1 , David Mizrahi 4 5 , Yvonne Zissiadis 6 , Rob U Newton 3 7 , Mary A Kennedy 1
  1. Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  2. Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  3. Exercise Medicine Research Institute, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
  4. The Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Discipline of Exercise and Sports Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare, Perth, WA, Australia
  7. School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

Aim: The COSA position statement on exercise in cancer care encourages health professionals to discuss, recommend, and refer patients for exercise. We performed a national cross-sectional survey to understand the reach and barriers to use of this guidance in cancer care.

Methods: Oncology healthcare professionals (other than exercise physiologists or physiotherapists) were invited to complete an online survey that assessed contextual factors that influence implementation of COSA exercise guidance in cancer care, based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Results: Seventy-eight participants were eligible with complete responses. Most were women (73%), involved in cancer care for >10 years (63%), and in a public hospital setting (65%). Common occupations included oncologists (28%), nurses (28%) and dietitians (10%). Most participants agreed there is strong evidence that exercise is beneficial for cancer patients (92%) and the COSA recommendations would positively influence patients’ exercise behaviours (94%). However, only 32% reported routinely applying COSA recommendations in practice, with a minority (28%) indicating they were the best person to provide support. Patient-level barriers included a need for additional support to access exercise (92%), most commonly financial (71%), transportation (57%), education (54%), then social/emotional (50%). Organisational-level barriers included a lack of dedicated resources to support delivery of exercise guidance (69%), and not believing provision of exercise guidance as an important part of their role (58%). Only 22% agreed their organisation revised practice based on the COSA recommendations.

Conclusions: Despite high agreement that exercise is beneficial in cancer care and application of COSA recommendations being useful for patients, only a minority of oncology health care professionals routinely apply exercise recommendations in clinical practice. Targeted efforts to overcome barriers that impact implementation of guidelines into practice aimed primarily at the patient and organisation levels are needed to improve incorporation of COSA exercise recommendations into standard cancer care.