Trekstock Meet & Move: The Impact of One-Day Health and Well-Being Events for Young Adults with Cancer

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of a series of one-day events delivered by Trekstock a cancer charity supporting young adults with cancer in the United Kingdom. Method: Data on physical activity, mood, perceived support, self-efficacy and confidence to be active were collected at three time points: before, after, and 2 weeks following the Meet & Move event. Results: Ninety-seven young adults with cancer (mean age: 29 years, 35% still receiving active treatment) attended a Trekstock Meet & Move event (n=5) and participated within the evaluation. Baseline data demonstrated that prior to attending a Meet & Move event 27.4% (n=23) of young adults reported felt their cancer excluded them from engaging in exercise, 44% (n=37) reported worry exercise will cause pain or injury and only 38.6% (n=32) knew what exercise they could do. Data collected post-event and at follow-up indicated that Meet & Move had a positive impact upon attendees' self-efficacy and confidence to be active with more than half reporting they felt inspired after attending. There was also a significant reduction in reported worry that exercise may cause pain or injury and reported perception of feeling left out of exercise because of cancer (p<0.005). Following engagement in the Meet & Move events, 45% of attendees had either signed up for an additional Trekstock physical activity program or initiated engagement in a new type of physical activity on their own. Conclusion: Trekstock Meet & Move events inspire and motivate young adults with cancer in their 20s and 30s to be active.

Trekstock RENEW: evaluation of a 12-week exercise referral programme for young adult cancer survivors delivered by a cancer charity

“…Providing young adults cancer survivors with the opportunity to see other cancer survivors of a similar age who have similar physical limitations complete exercise successfully is a further solution by which young adults with low self-efficacy and motivation to exercise may be better engaged. Data from the evaluation of the Trekstock Meet and Move programme confirm this notion and indicate that 1-day events which provide an opportunity for young adults with cancer to meet others are effective at improving confidence to be active [39]. Table 4 Self-efficacy and motivation (mean ± SD)…”

“Your Body Is Not At All Where You Left It”: Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Experiences Transitioning Back Into Physical Activity After Treatment

“…In addition, there is a need for increased supports in the form of referrals to exercise professionals immediately after treatment and provisions of ongoing exercise plans and resources. Consultations with healthcare providers working with AYAs have revealed that they do not feel capable of providing PA advice due to a lack of knowledge and confidence (Pugh, Petrella, Pabary, et al, 2021). Further, healthcare providers have described limited referral pathways as a barrier to recommending PA to cancer survivors (Alderman et al, 2020).…”

“…In addition, designing accessible age- and life-stage group PA programs and facilitating awareness of and participation in the programs would be worthwhile. One-day PA events for AYAs have shown to help increase confidence in engaging in further PA programs and may be great gateway to sustained group participation (Pugh, Petrella, Fisher, et al, 2021). Further, given the crucial role of supportive others, targeting the support people directly to provide them with education on the safety and benefits of PA for cancer survivors, as well as the ways in which they could support AYAs could be a helpful approach (Price et al, 2020).…”

Testing the Associations Between Body Image, Social Support, and Physical Activity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Diagnosed With Cancer

“…Previous literature with AYAs found that support group involvement, but not general social support, moderated the association between stress and PA ( Brunet et al, 2014 ). Given that group PA with other cancer survivors has shown to be useful in increasing PA confidence ( Zebrack et al, 2017 ; Pugh et al, 2021 ) and behavior ( Gill et al, 2016 ), it may be important to further examine the aspects of cancer-specific support that may be most beneficial for increasing PA levels among AYAs. It may be valuable to explore the (i) types of cancer-specific support (e.g., emotional, informational), (ii) characteristics of individual(s) involved (e.g., similar-aged/-life stage peer(s), mentor(s) further out from treatment), (iii) methods of connecting (e.g., virtual, in-person), and (iv) contexts (e.g., conversations, exercising together).…”