Health Behavior Goals Among Cancer Survivors in an Occupational Therapy Self-Management Program

Adopting health behaviors is critical for cancer survivors. Facilitating goal setting has been identified as an effective support for behavior change, but little is known about granular goal-setting behaviors. Further understanding of individual goal-setting behaviors may help identify individual support needs and further understanding of the impact of personalized intervention for cancer survivors. To describe participant-identified short-term goal-setting behaviors within a 12-week occupational therapy health behavior intervention for cancer survivors. Summative qualitative content analysis was conducted on short-term goals from therapy notes of a pilot study with 20 adult cancer survivors. Thirteen goal categories were identified from 480 short-term goals, with the majority of goals within Physical Activity (26.9%) and Diet (24.2%). Individual differences were noted in both goal-setting frequency and variety of goal content. Results indicate that goal-setting behaviors vary widely across individuals. Further study is needed to examine whether differences correspond with unique support needs.