Experiencing health – Physical activity during adjuvant chemotherapy treatment for women with breast cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejon.2015.09.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Physical activity (PA) had a positive impact on the women's perceived health.

  • Experienced an reduced symptom burden, improved physical function and increased social support.

  • By being physically active the women were inspired to change their lifestyle in the future.

  • PA supported the health processes and gave them the feeling of independence and getting respite from the illness.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to explore how women with breast cancer experience physical activity (PA) during adjuvant chemotherapy treatment.

Methods

This study included sixteen women diagnosed with breast cancer who had participated in a supervised 16-week PA intervention during adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. The qualitative approach included semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. Data were analyzed inductively with content analysis.

Result

The content analysis resulted in a description of experiencing health during chemotherapy treatment covered by five categories: Solidarity with others and being good to oneself; Experiencing functional improvement and social support; Empowerment and motivation to focus on health; Barriers to adherence to PA during illness and treatment; and Enabling health and independence. A core category was identified; PA a tool for maintenance and recovery of physical, mental and social health. The women reported that PA had a positive impact on both physical function and mental wellbeing. Participating in the PA intervention also increased their feeling of social support, which was reported to be important to motivate adherence to PA when the side effects became more severe. Symptom burden, time and lack of motivation were reported as barriers to continue PA during treatment.

Conclusion

The women in this study reported that PA had a positive impact on their perceived health and that it was possible to exercise despite increasing symptom burden from treatment. PA was perceived as a tool that supported health processes and gave the women a feeling of getting respite from the illness.

Section snippets

Background

Physical activity (PA) and an active lifestyle is an important part of promoting health and preventing illness (Wester et al., 2008). PA refers to all bodily movement as a result of the skeletal muscles which results in increased power consumption, and health-promoting PA can be defined as any PA that improves health and physical capacity without causing damage or hazards (Shephard and Balady, 1999, Public Health Institute S, 2008). PA is also an important part of the treatment of disease which

Design

The study used a qualitative design and data were collected in two steps: through in-depth individual and focus group interviews.

Ethical considerations

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their inclusion in the study and information was given both verbally and in writing about the aim and confidentiality of the study. All women participated voluntarily and were told that they were free to discontinue at any time without giving a reason. Ethical approval was obtained from the Regional

Results

The analysis resulted in a process of the experience of health during chemotherapy treatment covered by five categories: Solidarity to others and being good to oneself; Experiencing functional improvement and social support; Empowerment and motivation to focus on health; Barriers to adherence to PA during illness and treatment and Enabling health and independence – all of which contained several sub-categories. A core category was identified; PA a tool for maintenance and recovery of physical,

Discussion

Findings from this study showed that the women who participated in the PA intervention during adjuvant chemotherapy treatment experienced that PA made them feel healthy during treatment, which is described in the core category; PA a tool for maintaining and recovering physical, mental and social health. The core category is supported by five categories; Solidarity to others and being good to one self; Experiencing functional improvement and social support; Empowerment and motivation to focus on

Conclusion

The women in this study experienced that PA had a positive impact on their perceived health and that it was possible to exercise despite increasing symptom burden and side effects from treatment. By participating in PA the women experienced a reduced symptom burden and increased social support during the treatment period. The women were also inspired to change their lifestyle and PA was perceived as a tool that supported health processes and gave them the feeling of independence and getting

Conflicts of interest

No conflicts of interest exist.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the women who shared their experience with us for this study.

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