Implementing Strength after Breast Cancer (SABC) in outpatient rehabilitation clinics: mapping clinician survey data...

While 3.5 million breast cancer survivors in the USA are indicative of promising disease-free survival, many experience adverse effects in recovering from treatment. Evidence-based exercise programs may be a low-cost, easily disseminable solution to the challenge of recovering from adverse treatment affects. Therefore, after establishing efficacy in a large randomized controlled trial, we developed the Strength after Breast Cancer (SABC) program and the accompanying online course for clinicians interested in physical therapy to learn to deliver this rehabilitative exercise program to individuals with breast cancer. We surveyed clinicians who took the course to assess implementation of the program in outpatient rehabilitation clinics.

Ninety-six clinicians completed the survey between June and December, 2017 (24% response). Guided by Proctor's implementation outcomes framework, the respondents were asked if they had implemented (adoption) and are still implementing the program (sustainability), and which programmatic components they implemented (fidelity). Respondents were asked how many patients completed the program (reach), how patients got into the program (reach), the program's delivery format (appropriateness), and whether clinics were reimbursed by third-party payers (cost). Finally, respondents were asked what barriers they faced in delivery of SABC (feasibility) and whether others in the clinic completed the course (penetration).

Seventy-six percent of respondents implemented SABC and among those, 93% (68/73) were still delivering it. All programmatic components were implemented by over two thirds of respondents (67-95%). On average, the program was delivered to 13 patients per clinic by the time respondents took the survey. Most patient referrals were from oncology clinics (50%). The majority of clinicians delivered SABC one-on-one (96%) and 72% of clinics were compensated via third-party payers. Major barriers were lack of referrals from oncologists (40%) and clinic's competing demands (33%). We found no differences (Fisher's exact test p > .05) in reported barriers between those who implemented the program and those who did not.

Our findings suggest that the online training was sufficient to successfully implement the SABC program in outpatient rehabilitation clinics with high levels of adoption, fidelity, reach, and capacity for sustainability. Information on patient acceptability, cost-effectiveness, and how to overcome implementation barriers are still needed.