Addressing Fear of Cancer Recurrence Through Remotely-Delivered Exercise

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Psychological Oncology
• Exercise Science

Background:

• Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is a common and distressing issue for cancer survivors.
• Existing psychological interventions for FCR are effective but often inaccessible due to resource and personnel demands.
• Remotely delivered exercise programs present a scalable, cost-effective alternative for managing FCR, but their efficacy is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a 12-week remote exercise intervention in mitigating FCR among cancer patients.
• To evaluate the impact of remote exercise on quality of life, measured by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scores.

Main Methods:

• A 12-week remote exercise intervention was implemented, featuring weekly virtual consultations and personalized exercise plans.
• Participants were adults with moderate-to-severe FCR (FCR-7 score ≥ 17) undergoing active cancer treatment.
• Data from pilot studies were combined, with statistical analyses including paired t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and mixed-effects modeling.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in mean FCR-7 scores from 20.2 at baseline to 12.8 post-intervention (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.6).
• Significant improvement in FACT-G scores from 84.4 to 95.6 (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.0).
• High adherence rate of 86.5% observed among the 149 participants.

Conclusions:

• A 12-week remote exercise program demonstrates potential in reducing FCR among cancer patients.
• The accessibility and scalability of remote exercise make it a promising strategy for addressing FCR in diverse populations.
• Further confirmation in larger, controlled trials is warranted to validate these preliminary findings.