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A Web-based Lifestyle Intervention for Cancer Survivors: Feasibility and Acceptability of SurvivorSHINE

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Abstract

Assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a healthy lifestyle website, SurvivorSHINE (www.survivorshine.org), for cancer survivors using a mixed-methods approach. Formative research included a comprehensive literature review and four focus groups on website preferences with diagnosis-diverse cancer survivors (N = 17). Their feedback informed a web adaptation of a telephone counseling and mailed-print lifestyle intervention previously found effective for cancer survivors. The resulting web-based intervention was examined in a 3-week, single-arm trial among 41 cancer survivors. Assessments of physical activity, diet, body weight, and knowledge related to exercise and diet guidelines for cancer survivors occurred at baseline and 3 weeks later, along with exit interviews. Themes from focus groups indicated cancer survivors’ desire for easy-to-use, interactive web-based platforms to access credible diet and exercise information. The study sample was recruited within 12 months, and study retention was high (85.4%). Participants showed significant pre- to post-test improvements in diet and exercise knowledge (t = 5.31, p < .0001) and physical activity (t = 2.40, p = .02). Improvements in body weight and some dietary components (red meat, alcohol) were observed, but did not reach statistical significance. Results support the feasibility and acceptability of SurvivorSHINE. The significant increases in healthy lifestyle knowledge and physical activity found in the current study are promising, but a larger, randomized-controlled trial is needed to determine efficacy.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

This research was supported by the American Cancer Society (CRP-14–111-01-CPPB), National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA106919), and Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program (T32-CA047888).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, USA

    Victoria A. Williams, Nashira I. Brown, M. Cole Ainsworth, Kevin Fontaine & Dori Pekmezi

  2. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Roman Johnson

  3. People Designs, Inc., Durham, NC, USA

    David Farrell

  4. Department of Pediatrics, UAB, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Margaux Barnes

  5. Department of Biostatistics, UAB, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Suzanne Perumean-Chaney

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

    Michelle Y. Martin

  7. Department of Nutrition Sciences, UAB, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Wendy Demark-Wahnefried

  8. O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Wendy Demark-Wahnefried

Authors
  1. Victoria A. Williams
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  2. Nashira I. Brown
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  3. Roman Johnson
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  4. M. Cole Ainsworth
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  5. David Farrell
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  6. Margaux Barnes
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  7. Suzanne Perumean-Chaney
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  8. Kevin Fontaine
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  9. Michelle Y. Martin
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  10. Dori Pekmezi
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  11. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Victoria Williams, and Suzanne Perumean-Chaney. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Victoria Williams, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria A. Williams.

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Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The study was approved by the UAB Institutional Review Board (IRB-140428003).

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Williams, V.A., Brown, N.I., Johnson, R. et al. A Web-based Lifestyle Intervention for Cancer Survivors: Feasibility and Acceptability of SurvivorSHINE. J Canc Educ 37, 1773–1781 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-021-02026-x

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