The Perspectives and Lived Experience of Postoperative Patients with Lung Cancer Participating in a Home-Based...

Postoperative patients with lung cancer experience a cluster of symptoms and reduced quality of life. This study aimed to collect the pre- and postexercise intervention opinions of postoperative patients with lung cancer and to identify their perceptions of barriers, facilitators, and benefits of a home-based exercise intervention and its impact on their future exercise.

Fourteen participants (aged 53 to 78) were purposively recruited from a tertiary hospital to participate in a 4-week home-based walking exercise intervention after discharge. Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews were conducted to collect data. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Details regarding the exercise duration and intensity for each participant were collected using a sports watch app, and participants exercise diaries.

Three main themes emerged: (1) participants' differing opinions preintervention, (2) barriers and facilitators encountered during the exercise period, and (3) the positive impact on participants' future exercise. Other results showed that 12 of the 14 participants reached the goal of exercise duration and intensity. Postoperative patients with lung cancer need an exercise intervention to motivate and guide them to perform exercise after discharge. This study showed that a home-based walking exercise intervention was feasible and acceptable; patients perceived benefits and became more active and confident about their future exercise plans.

Against the backdrop of inadequate staffing, insufficient funding, and lack of supervised exercise programs for this rapidly increasing population, this study of a nurse-led home-based exercise program provides a feasible and realistic approach and qualitative evidence to address these issues.