Barriers, Facilitators, and Predictors of Adherence to Yoga Among People with Cancer: Scoping Review

Yoga is known to improve the symptomatology caused by cancer and its treatments, and to improve quality of life. However, the barriers, facilitators, and predictors of adherence to yoga among people with cancer are not well known. The objective of the present study was to use the available scientific literature to explore the degree of the adherence to yoga and its barriers/facilitators/predictors among people with cancer. This scoping review searched for relevant information in PubMed, SciELO, Google Scholar, CINAHL via EBSCO, and MEDLINE via EBSCO. We included any scientific articles in English, Portuguese, or Spanish, published between 1994 and 2024, and covering the concept of adherence to yoga during or after oncological treatment (including the description of barriers, facilitators, and/or predictors). Three independent reviewers selected documents, filtering by title and abstract, then by full text. Data extracted from studies were organized in frequency tables. Twenty-three articles were included in the final review. These studies reported adherence to yoga ranging from 7% to 100%. Most studies (76.5%) reported adherence higher than 70%. The most reported barriers were difficulty in accessing the yoga practice center, lack of time, cancer-related symptoms, family commitments, and lack of interest. The most-reported facilitators/predictors were related to yoga and included supportive materials and online classes. These barriers and facilitators/predictors should be addressed for the implementation of yoga programs targeting higher adherence among people with cancer.