The Acti-Pair program helps men with prostate cancer increase physical activity with peer support: a mixed method...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Exercise Science
• Behavioral Medicine

Background:

• Prostate cancer patients often do not meet physical activity (PA) recommendations due to various barriers.
• Lifestyle changes are not consistently adopted even when PA barriers are overcome.
• Effective strategies are needed to improve patient adherence to physical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and viability of the Acti-Pair program for prostate cancer patients.
• To evaluate a program combining peer support, personalized PA projects, and professional guidance.
• To explore the potential of a localized, multi-strategy intervention for improving PA in this population.

Main Methods:

• A 3-year pilot study using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Feasibility and viability assessed through recruitment, retention, adherence, and process indicators.
• Quantitative data on PA and motivation collected pre- and post-intervention; qualitative data from stakeholder interviews.

Main Results:

• Recruited 24 patients over 25 months; 42% completed the 3-month program.
• Trained 9 peers; PA support systems were crucial.
• Significant increases observed in moderate to vigorous PA and intrinsic motivation post-intervention.
• Difficulty for health professionals in promoting PA was a key challenge.

Conclusions:

• The Acti-Pair program demonstrates feasibility and viability in a pilot setting.
• Findings support the extension of peer support interventions to other contexts.
• Further research can assess the effectiveness and generalizability of this combined approach.