Expectations and Experiences of Participating in a Supervised and Home-Based Physical Exercise Intervention in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer during Chemoradiotherapy: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Ethics
2.2. Setting, Eligibility and Recruitment
2.3. Exercise Intervention
2.4. Pre- and Post-Intervention Interviews
2.5. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participants
3.2. Overview of Findings
3.2.1. Theme (1) Planning and Time Management
3.2.2. Theme (2) Treatment Toxicity
3.2.3. Theme (3) Motivation to Exercise
3.2.4. Theme (4) Exercise Intervention
3.2.5. Theme (5) Supervision by the Physiotherapist
3.2.6. Suggestions for Improvement—Comments from Participants
4. Discussion
Clinical Implications and Future Directions
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Participant No. | Age (years) | Gender | Educational Level 1 | Disease Stage | Tumor Location | Number of Attended Supervised Sessions (out of 10) | Completed the Intervention | Interview before Intervention | Interview after Intervention | Rating Exercise Intervention 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 58 | M | Middle | IV | Oro- pharynx | 4 | yes | yes | yes | 8 |
2 | 56 | M | High | III | Oro- pharynx | 2 | no | yes | yes | missing |
3 | 35 | M | Middle | IV | Oral cavity | 9 | yes | yes | yes | 8 |
4 | 65 | F | Middle | IV | Oro- pharynx | 2 | no | yes | yes | 8 |
5 | 60 | M | Middle | V | Oro- pharynx | 9 | yes | yes | yes | 6 |
6 | 47 | M | Middle | III | Oro- pharynx | 2 | no | yes | yes | 8 |
7 | 63 | M | Middle | IV | Oral cavity | 7 | yes | yes | yes | 8 |
8 | 70 | M | Low | IV | Hypopharynx | 3 | no | yes | no | missing |
9 | 59 | F | High | IV | Oro- pharynx | 10 | yes | yes | yes | 8 |
10 | 58 | M | Middle | III | Oro- pharynx | 8 | yes | yes | yes | 5 |
11 | 53 | F | High | III | Oro- pharynx | 4 | no | yes | yes | 7.5 |
12 | 67 | M | High | IV | Oral cavity | 8 | yes | yes | yes | 10 |
13 | 54 | M | Middle | IV | Oral cavity | 4 | yes | yes | no | missing |
14 | 56 | M | High | IV | Oro- pharynx | 10 | yes | yes | yes | 7.5 |
Themes | Subthemes | Quotes (Patient nr, Quote nr) |
---|---|---|
Planning and time management | Expectations | |
Lack of time due to chemoradiotherapy schedule | “I hesitated because I already saw my agenda filling up completely with all sorts of different things.” (patient nr. 12, quote nr. 1) | |
Structure of daily life activities | “My daily routine is completely thrown off, you are not in charge of your own calendar anymore, so it is a bit of a puzzle where to fit this in, but then again this number of exercises should not make this impossible.” (patient nr 2, quote nr. 2) | |
Experiences | ||
Intensity of chemoradiotherapy schedule | “You do not know what hits you. You must see the dental hygienist, the dietitian, the speech therapist… In the month of May, we had over 50 appointments scheduled at the hospital.” (patient nr. 4, quote nr. 3) | |
Intensity of chemoradiotherapy schedule, travelling time | “And the reason for dropping out, that had to do with, like, there is so much you have to deal with when starting [therapy], you hardly realize what you agreed to. The intensity of the program and all that comes with it, not just the program, but having to travel more than three hours every day to get to and from the hospital. And then also having to comply to this program, in combination with all kinds of other appointments, that made it too hard.” (patient nr. 2, quote nr. 4) | |
Treatment toxicity | Expectations | |
Intensity of chemoradiotherapy treatment, physical ability | “I can imagine, that when you have just had your chemotherapy treatment, and you are extremely nauseated. Well, then, of course, it becomes difficult to motivate yourself and actually perform the exercises.” (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 5) | |
Experiences | ||
Nausea, weight loss, energy loss, pain, tube feeding | “At one point I could not stop throwing up… in a few days I became scrawny. It terrified me. Then I was admitted to the hospital. So, then you’re not like; okay, I should go ahead and do my exercises now.” (patient nr. 11, quote nr. 6) | |
Emotional well-being | “You are happy after that last radiotherapy treatment; it’s over, you could just kiss everyone. But then you fall into a void, and then it is nice that there still is this exercise program, with its weekly appointments with the physiotherapist, so there was at least that, so this was especially helpful mentally. (patient nr. 4, quote nr. 7) | |
Motivation to exercise | Expectations | |
Physical health benefits | “Motivation to survive, and also a shorter rehabilitation period, but initially, strive to survive. So, everything I can do to support this treatment I will do. ” (patient nr. 3, quote nr. 8) | |
Willpower | “There is no such thing as “I can’t do this anymore”, never ever, I can always take it a step further, at least at my level you can always take it a step further. The average top athlete will not be able to run much faster, but in my condition, there is always room for improvement” (patient nr. 3, quote nr. 9) | |
Confidence | “Self-esteem, increasing confidence. I guess. Feeling less of a pitiful little creature… feeling better both physically and mentally being more confident. “ (patient nr 12, quote nr. 10) | |
Sporty attitude | “Anyway, I already had the intention [to exercise] in advance. If you exercise on a regular basis during treatment, that’s just better. You pull through easier, you are fitter, you might have less drug side-effects and so on.” (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 11) | |
Lack of sporty attitude | “Well, actually, I must confess I am a bit, ehm, this is anonymous right? I am actually very lazy.” (patient nr. 9, quote nr. 12) | |
Peers, experiences of peers | “The experiences of someone I know, who has also had cancer, breast cancer, she told me she stayed as active as she could and this helped her a lot. And she is about my age, a few years younger, so I thought: that is a valuable piece of advice. And that’s how I selected tips and advice from people around me every now and then.” (patient nr. 9, quote nr. 13) | |
Experiences | ||
Physical health benefits | “I am convinced that, ehm, that for my recovery and maybe also to prevent deterioration, exercising is simply very beneficial. That is sort of what I think.” (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 14) | |
Health beliefs, attitude | “You are also just tired of being ill, so the things that are not absolutely necessary for your health or to survive… well… they can wait until tomorrow.” (patient nr. 5, quote nr. 15) | |
Loss of self-control | “at one point I was extremely nauseated, I just did not perform the exercises anymore, I just couldn’t. But I did take it up again, one week later. But it did give me a bit of a scare, because I often don’t know my own boundaries, so I became scared and then I dropped out”. (patient nr. 12, quote nr. 16) | |
Self-control | “And everything I can do to feel less like a patient and to speed up my recovery I will do! So I was quite motivated not to be discouraged and not to become a passive patient, but instead keeping self-control during the treatment trajectory as well as during the rehabilitation phase.” (patient nr. 14, quote nr. 17) | |
Physical health benefits | “Sitting is the new smoking”, they say, and not without reason, so considering that, and especially in these extreme circumstances, it is just good to do it [exercising].” (patient nr. 9, quote nr. 18) | |
Commitment to the study program | “I already intended to exercise, even if I would not have participated in this study, as I had said before. Anyway, I still would have planned to do something, so that was my motivation. And then it is just discipline, especially when you are not feeling well.” (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 19) | |
Chemo dog, social support | “I deliberately borrowed a dog during my treatment, to arrange my physical activity routine.” (patient nr. 14, quote nr. 20) | |
“Fortunately, I have little experience with cancer. This is the first time, but you just have no clue… There is so much coming at you, it is very difficult to predict whether it will be feasible [exercising]”. (patient nr. 2, quote nr. 21) | ||
Exercise intervention | Expectations | |
Content, unclear expectations | “… I don’t know what to expect, so maybe… I don’t know what we are going to do yet.” (patient nr. 6, quote nr. 22) | |
Personalized intervention | “Yes well, I would assume that, when developing the program, you gave it some consideration that one should be able to keep it up”. (patient nr. 9, quote nr. 23) | |
Experiences | ||
Simplicity of the intervention, home-based | “The simplicity, that is of course the strength of this program, anyone can do it, you don’t have to go to the gym. You can just do it at home whenever you want. It is simple, and that, of course, is the strength of this program. Because, if you’re aiming for feasibility you should not add the constraint that one must go to the gym.” (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 24) | |
Home-based, social support | “It took me a while to get into it (home-based exercises), because I’m not used to that, but later on I did it together with my wife. She also got one of those (resistance) bands, and then we did it together, she is really good at it”. (patient nr. 12, quote nr. 25) | |
Supervision physiotherapist | Expectations | |
Coaching, motivating | “Well a strong external incentive, I definitely need that, because I think I am rather lazy by nature.” (patient nr. 9, quote nr. 26) | |
Coaching, performance | “By correcting me when I didn’t perform the exercises properly. You know, of course I did them once and I have seen those pictures, but the correct posture… that is hard. You tend to make it as easy on yourself as possible with those exercises, but you have to adopt the right posture that truly makes you put in the effort.” (patient nr. 5, quote nr. 27) | |
Coaching, personal approach | “In any case, it offers me (ehm) a custom-fit solution to stay sportive, or at least physically active”. (patient nr. 14, quote nr. 28) | |
Experiences | ||
Personal approach, coaching | “That physiotherapist, yeah, I think she put too much pressure on me… to go, (ehm)… to the extreme… for me that works counterproductive”. (patient nr. 11, quote nr. 29) | |
Clear instructions | “You can do the exercises in many different ways, and there was actually only one good way. The physiotherapist was always very pleased that I remembered the exercises well and performed them in the correct way.”(patient nr. 5, quote nr. 30) | |
Personal approach, coaching | “Yes, I found it very stimulating, really empowering, (ehm) the physiotherapist was really driven, and you become aware of what your limits are, and what you can still do…”. (patient nr. 12, quote nr. 31) | |
“I think it is truly fantastic! Very well done, inspired, and the physiotherapist is of course a wonderful person, but also the way she presented it and made it attractive by stimulating me, yeah, that is really the way to get someone moving”. (patient nr. 12, quote nr. 32) |
Suggestions for Improvement | Exemplary Quotes |
---|---|
Exercise videos | “What might be helpful,… you know, I had to do 6 different exercises… and if there were like 6 YouTube videos with exactly those exercises”. (patient nr. 5, quote nr. 33) |
Supervised training near home | “I think, yeah, if a physiotherapist had visited me at home, I probably would have done those exercises”. (patient nr. 6, quote nr. 34) |
Hospital-based training | “During hospital stay, I really liked it, but at home there was so much going on, too many distractions, and all the hassle with medication, tube feeding, that made it impossible to also do it (the exercises) on top of all that”. (patient nr. 5, quote nr. 35) |
Exercise in peer group | “I think it is better (to exercise) in a group”. (patient nr. 4, quote nr. 36) |
Personalized training program | “Consider each individuals’ own personal needs. I had a need for a more intensive program and with that, I would have liked the freedom to adjust the exercises when it’s not going well on occasion”. (patient nr. 10, quote nr. 37) |
Health/exercise tracking apps | “To be honest, I didn’t find the fitbit very convenient,… I think it would be better to use your smartphone for tracking, because you always have it on you,… you know. I change my trousers before leaving the house and then the fitbit was still attached to the house pair…”. (patient nr. 5, quote nr. 38) |
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Share and Cite
Kok, A.; Passchier, E.; May, A.M.; Jager-Wittenaar, H.; Veenhof, C.; de Bree, R.; Stuiver, M.M.; Speksnijder, C.M. Expectations and Experiences of Participating in a Supervised and Home-Based Physical Exercise Intervention in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer during Chemoradiotherapy: A Qualitative Study. Curr. Oncol. 2024, 31, 885-899. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31020066
Kok A, Passchier E, May AM, Jager-Wittenaar H, Veenhof C, de Bree R, Stuiver MM, Speksnijder CM. Expectations and Experiences of Participating in a Supervised and Home-Based Physical Exercise Intervention in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer during Chemoradiotherapy: A Qualitative Study. Current Oncology. 2024; 31(2):885-899. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31020066
Chicago/Turabian StyleKok, Annemieke, Ellen Passchier, Anne M. May, Harriët Jager-Wittenaar, Cindy Veenhof, Remco de Bree, Martijn M. Stuiver, and Caroline M. Speksnijder. 2024. "Expectations and Experiences of Participating in a Supervised and Home-Based Physical Exercise Intervention in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer during Chemoradiotherapy: A Qualitative Study" Current Oncology 31, no. 2: 885-899. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31020066