Understanding the Experiences of Physical Activity, Body Image, and Quality of Life in Young Adult Males Living with and beyond Cancer
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Recruitment
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Demographics
3.2. Interview Results
3.2.1. Theme 1: Loss of Identity Due to Cancer
Not as- able to be as active as I was before the cancer and then some of the side effects from the some of the chemotherapy that caused neuropathy for me in my hands and feet. So that makes the balance in particular for things like paddle boarding more challenging.P07
‘cause my running performance was declining kind of rapidly. And I was like, what is this? This doesn’t make sense. Is this getting old? Can I just not run a 25-min 5K anymore?P02
It’s sort of frustration, sense of loss of not being the old me and frustration that I’m not, yeah, where I’d want to be or hoped I could be.P07
Somewhere in there, I have like some other surgical issues that are, you know, like causing me to kind of, like be mentally drained and frustrated.P01
3.2.2. Theme 2: Building Autonomy and Identity Using PA
So, pre- I didn’t really care much about my health. I ate whatever, didn’t really exercise, and then the fact that I need to do some exercise post-surgery to recover, that was an initial trigger toward continuing with exercise to this day, as irregular as it is. But it is more than I was doing five years ago.P05
And right now, it was it’s about getting healthy again. And so prior, like right at the beginning of treatment, they’re like you need to get up to weight and now I’ve gotten to weight, so now I don’t want to get overweight.P03
Staying alive is kind of a big motivating factor in losing weight and being healthy and being around to, you know, have my daughter when she’s 16 to tell me to f-off. Like, that’s a life experience that I’m going to want to have, right?P01
With the body weight [exercise routine] I can definitely see, oh, I could only do like 4 push ups last month, now I’m up to five. OK, now let’s move on to like the next difficulty level. And that kind of feels satisfying that I’m meeting some sort of goal and making progress in my physical fitness.P05
I think the exercise is really, yeah, it’d be a bit like, just awe and appreciation of like, what my body is capable of. Because even like 10 years ago I’ve been like, I’m never going to run. I’m never going to be able to run more than like around the block. It’s like, no, actually you can run really fing far if you want to.P02
3.2.3. Theme 3: The “Should” behind BI: Perceiving One’s Body Based on What They Should Look Like
Yeah, so hair loss was a big one for me. I still have a little bit, but used to have a lot more. So that was, I mean it kind of slowly, like seeing it at the beginning, first to go that was that was a bit of a struggle for me because I didn’t want to lose the hair.P03
Well, it’s, I don’t know, maybe made me a bit more depressed, that I‘ve gained this weight.P04
Because I want it to be like all of the boy band stomachs from the 90s, man. I wanna look like that. Unfortunately, it’s a toxic trait, I guess.P02
Worrying about what other people think or how what other people’s perceptions are wearing out when you don’t the shirts too tight or don’t look bit bigger or bit overweight.P07
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Theme: | Example Quotes |
---|---|
Loss of identity due to cancer. | I’m just like physically tired, like all the time. It’s just kicking myself to get myself moving. P01 I will pass hanging out with friends just because I know it’s not worth pushing the body. P03 I felt and what I could physically do, versus now, I have more limitations. P07 I wasn’t able to participate at be as active, played team sports and went to the gym, worked out more before my diagnosis and then treatment and haven’t been able to get back to that level. P07 Yeah, I think it’s impacted my mental health in a negative way. There’s so many things that you can’t control from cancer and we can’t fully control our body as fit and whiz, but sort of losing the ability to be as active or to stay in is the best ship is the shape that I’d want to be in has been a challenge mentally. P07 It’s feeling like I can’t or I don’t have the energy or the inability to do it more so than not liking how it look while I do those things. P07 |
Building autonomy and identity using physical activity. | Well that physical activity should lead to a healthier lifestyle as far as increasing my endurance, hopefully causing less pain in your knees. And, you know, just overall well-being like that physical activity will keep you, you know, to have less likelihood of maybe hurting my back when I when I pick her [participant’s daughter] up, you know, or you know, just things like that from injury, I guess. P03 I 100% agree uhm that like for the longevity my life, I need to lose weight. Like it’s a weird thing. Like, I know everybody says it, but like once you have kids, like your whole like, priority list changes as far as like what it is that you want and all that stuff. It no longer is you. You’re thinking of someone else. And I would hate like, you know all the studies as you know how it goes like a kid who grows up without a parent in the house, like they could end up on crack [laughs]. P03 The worry’s not so much I guess in dying that’s more of a heart disease from a history on the history is probably the driving factor on that you know degradation of physical performance let’s say is probably the more pertinent worry from the cancer diagnosis and follow out. P06 |
The “should” behind body image: perceiving one’s body based on what they should look like. | Like, people always underestimate me due to like, you know, I’m quiet, I’m overweight, but like in majority of sports, I’ve always done fairly well. Like as far as like I’m not a professional or anything, but I’m fairly competent. P01 So, I was in shorts and T-shirt for a very long period of time with the uhm the chicken legs and all of that going on. So, I was none too pleased with that. So that was definitely, just definitely a body image thing of me wanting to put on the weight and the muscle because yeah, I was just getting horrendously skinny. And but then yeah, that that would have been the body image thing. P03 Like, if I can even, like, go to, like, out with friends or like, I don’t really go to the bars anymore because I’m like, self-conscious about my body pretty much. P04 So, it’s more aspiring to have the weight I had say, during grad school as opposed to 10 years later. P05 What I actually want to do is once in a while when I meet, I know my father-in-law or my cousin to be able to show off. ‘Hey look, I actually have muscles now’. P05 |
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Variable | Number (%) |
---|---|
Age at Diagnosis: Mean ± SD, years * | 32.7 (4.0) [range: 28.0–38.0] |
Sexual Identity/Orientation † | |
Gay | 1 (14.3) |
Questioning | 1 (14.3) |
Straight (Heterosexual) | 5 (71.4) |
Race † | |
East Asian | 1 (14.3) |
White | 6 (85.7) |
Residence † | |
Alberta | 6 (85.7) |
Northwest Territories | 1 (14.3) |
Rural/Urban † | |
No Information Provided | 1 (14.3) |
Urban Area | 6 (85.7) |
Cancer Type † | |
Colon | 1 (14.3) |
Colon and Brain | 1 (14.3) |
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) | 1 (14.3) |
Hairy Cell Leukemia | 1 (14.3) |
Follicular Lymphoma | 1 (14.3) |
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma | 1 (14.3) |
Testicular | 1 (14.3) |
Treatment Status † | |
Currently Receiving Active Treatment | 2 (28.6) |
Completed Treatment | 5 (71.4) |
Employment † | |
Disability | 3 (42.9) |
Full-Time | 3 (42.9) |
Temporarily Unemployed | 1 (14.3) |
Highest Education Level Achieved † | |
Completed Graduate School | 1 (14.3) |
Completed University/College | 4 (57.1) |
Some Graduate School | 1 (14.3) |
Some University/College | 1 (14.3) |
Marital Status † | |
Common-Law | 2 (28.6) |
Married | 3 (42.9) |
Single | 2 (28.6) |
Participant # | Age at Diagnosis | Current Age | Cancer Type | Treatment Status | Biological Sex | Pronouns | Sexual Identity/ Orientation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P1 | 37 | 40 | Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) | Completed | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Straight (heterosexual) |
P2 | 35 | 39 | Hairy Cell Leukemia | Completed | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Questioning |
P3 | 28 | 28 | Hodgkin’s Lymphoma | Chemotherapy | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Straight (heterosexual) |
P4 | 38 | 38 | Follicular Lymphoma | Immunotherapy | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Gay |
P5 | 32 | 37 | Colon | Completed | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Straight (heterosexual) |
P6 | 30 | 38 | Testicular | Completed | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Straight (heterosexual) |
P7 | 29 | 36 | Colon and Brain | Completed | Male | He/Him/His/Himself | Straight (heterosexual) |
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Share and Cite
Dhruva, T.; Sim, J.A.P.; Wagoner, C.W.; Kenny, S.J.; Langelier, D.M.; Culos-Reed, S.N. Understanding the Experiences of Physical Activity, Body Image, and Quality of Life in Young Adult Males Living with and beyond Cancer. Curr. Oncol. 2024, 31, 4675-4684. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31080348
Dhruva T, Sim JAP, Wagoner CW, Kenny SJ, Langelier DM, Culos-Reed SN. Understanding the Experiences of Physical Activity, Body Image, and Quality of Life in Young Adult Males Living with and beyond Cancer. Current Oncology. 2024; 31(8):4675-4684. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31080348
Chicago/Turabian StyleDhruva, Tana, Jenna A. P. Sim, Chad W. Wagoner, Sarah J. Kenny, David M. Langelier, and S. Nicole Culos-Reed. 2024. "Understanding the Experiences of Physical Activity, Body Image, and Quality of Life in Young Adult Males Living with and beyond Cancer" Current Oncology 31, no. 8: 4675-4684. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31080348