The intervention successfully increased PA and improved fitness and specific aspects of psychological well-being among early-stage breast cancer patients. The success of a home-based PA intervention has important implications for promoting recovery in this population.

Individuals treated for cancer often experience higher levels of emotional distress than the general population. Previous research has shown that exercise can have an ameliorating effect on these problems. This 12-month prospective longitudinal study investigated mood, quality of life, cancer-related symptoms, and exercise behavior of 69 women who had completed treatment for Stage 0-2 breast cancer. We studied the natural progression of exercise participation after cancer treatment. Effects on mood, quality of life, and cancer-related symptoms were assessed after controlling for demographic variables, disease variables, social support, and baseline values to test the hypothesis that women who exercised were more likely to report better mood, higher quality of life, and fewer cancer-related symptoms. Results indicated that women did not increase their exercise participation over time and that overall mean minutes of exercise participation were below recommended levels. Baseline demographic predictors of exercise participation included younger age, having a spouse or partner, increased time since diagnosis, higher social support, and higher depression. Exercise participation was associated with improved physical functioning, but not overall mood or cancer-related symptoms. We discuss implications of these findings towards the well-being of breast cancer survivors.

Breast cancer patients can experience emotional distress as a result of diagnosis and treatment. Higher levels of optimism and social support are associated with less emotional distress in cancer patients. This 12-month prospective study followed 69 women who had completed treatment for Stages 0-II breast cancer. At 3-month intervals, participants completed measures of mood disturbance, optimism, and social support. As hypothesized, affective social support mediated the relationship between optimism and distress in early-stage breast cancer survivors at baseline and 6 months but not at 1 year. In contrast, confidant social support did not mediate the optimism-distress relationship at any time point. Clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed.