Effects of exercise training and follow‐up calls at home on physical activity and quality of life after a mastectomy

Abstract

Aim To determine the effects of exercise training that was supported with follow‐up calls at home on the postoperative level of physical activity and quality of life of women with breast cancer. Methods The study was carried out with a quasi‐experimental design. Women who had underwent an axillary dissection and mastectomy and who were receiving ongoing chemotherapy treatment in the ambulatory unit of a university hospital were included in the study. Sixty‐two women were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 31) or a control (n = 31) group. The women in the intervention group were given exercise training and then they were followed up by phone calls at home for 12 weeks in order to ensure the continuity of the exercises. Results At the end of the study, the number of “very active” individuals and the “total physical activity level” increased significantly in the intervention group but decreased significantly in the control group. In the intervention group, “future healthy function” in the functional area subscale significantly increased but “systematic therapy side‐effects,” “breast symptoms,” and “arm symptoms” in the symptom subscale increased significantly. Conclusion Exercise training that is supported with home follow‐up calls after surgery increases the level of physical activity, which then favorably relates with a good quality of life of women with breast cancer.

The Feasibility of Exercise Interventions Delivered via Telehealth for People Affected by Cancer: A Rapid Review of the Literature

“…The non-randomised studies lacked complete outcome data due to participant dropout rates and as such the results from these studies are viewed with caution. There were several issues in the included randomised controlled studies worth a mention, 1) several studies 16,18,26,28,[34][35][36][37]40 did not describe the randomisation approach, 2) the primary researcher was in some cases not blinded to the randomisation process 16,18 and 3) in the majority of the randomised studies the outcome assessors were not blinded to the intervention administered. [14][15][16]18,23,24,26,28,31,[34][35][36][37][38]40…”

“…Breast cancer represented 62% of studies. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The participants varied by tumour stage and treatment modality across all studies. The mean age of the study participants was 54 years.…”

“…Other approaches to exercise intervention included weekly SMS with pedometers. 28 The remainder of the studies used traditional approaches which included telephone counselling or email communication with healthcare professionals 16,18,20,25,26 and two studies 21,36 used remote telephone counselling with Wi-Fi tracking devices and SMS messaging. Interestingly, none of the included studies reported using face-to-face telehealth platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams or FaceTime.…”

“…Ten studies used telephone counselling communication. 16,18,20,21,25,26,[33][34][35]40 The studies reported inconsistent findings in relation to the relationship of the exercise telephone counselling interventions across a range of physical outcomes. Several studies improvements in fatigue levels, upper body function, 18 increased PA levels, 14,20,25,26,34,40, improved cardiovascular fitness, 25 reduced body weight 20,35 and reduced interleukin levels.…”

The Role of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across the Interdisciplinary Cancer Team: Implications for Practice

“… 80 However some studies have already demonstrated its’ feasibility 75 , 82 and effectiveness in improving physical 75 , 82 , 83 and psychosocial outcomes within cancer survivors. 75 , 82 , 83 , 84 Currently the primary modes of Telehealth delivery have been via mobile applications 85 , web-based platforms 83 , 84 , telephone 75 , 82 , or short messaging service (SMS). 86 To date, there is limited research exploring exercise interventions delivered via live video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp or Facetime.…”