Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

ExerciseGuide: A qualitative study of patients’ experiences of a web-based personalised exercise intervention for individuals with metastatic prostate cancer  (#454)

Holly EL Evans 1 , Daniel A Galvão 2 , Cynthia Forbes 3 , Danielle Girard 4 , Corneel Vandelanotte 5 , Rob U Newton 2 , Andrew D Vincent 6 , Gary Wittert 6 , Suzanne Chambers 7 , Nicholas Brook 8 , Ganessan Kichenadasse 9 , Maddison Shaw 1 , Camille E Short 10
  1. College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia
  2. Exercise Medicine Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
  3. Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
  4. Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity, Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  5. Physical Activity Research Group, Central Queensland University, North Rockhampton, QLD, Australia
  6. Freemasons Centre for Male Health & Wellbeing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  7. Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  8. Department of Surgery, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  9. Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia
  10. Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Aims 

Research has shown the effectiveness of supervised exercise-based interventions in alleviating sequela resulting from metastatic prostate cancer. Technology-enabled interventions such as the ExerciseGuide web-based exercise program offer a distance-based alternative. Despite preliminary evidence demonstrating that the ExerciseGuide program is safe and efficacious among individuals with metastatic prostate cancer, participant perceptions of the program have not been explored. This study aimed to investigate participant perceptions of the strengths and limitations of the ExerciseGuide program to inform future practice. 

 

Methods 

A qualitative methodology was undertaken using one-on-one semi-structured interviews with participants who completed the ExerciseGuide randomised controlled trial. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. 

 

Results 

Interviews were conducted with eighteen of the twenty Australians (59-83 years; M = 69.1, SD = 6.8) living with metastatic prostate cancer who had completed the exercise arm of the ExerciseGuide study. Three themes emerged related to strengths/limitations: Personalised support (sub-themes: beneficial, greater accountability, peer support, self-management strategies), website (sub-themes: education, usability) and exercise prescription (sub-themes: aerobic easy/resistance hard, modality variety, increased tailoring, benchmarking, monitoring). Overall, the participants found the intervention beneficial. Receiving individualised support from the Exercise Physiologist was invaluable, but increased contact was desired for accountability and troubleshooting. Website usage was mixed, with information-technology literacy key to positive perception. Participants had more barriers to resistance training than aerobic training and sought increased tailoring with regards to exercise modality, treatment stage and symptoms.  

 

Conclusions 

Individuals with metastatic prostate cancer had mostly positive experiences with the ExerciseGuide program. Future programs need to provide personalised support and education tailored to the need of the individual rather than one-size-fits-all. A focus on tools that aid resistance training adherence are required. Finally, further refinement of websites is needed for the simplicity of use.