Cancer survivors' exercise barriers, facilitators and preferences in the context of fatigue, quality of life and physical activity participation: a questionnaire–survey

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the exercise barriers, facilitators and preferences of a mixed sample of cancer survivors as well as fatigue levels, quality of life (QoL) and the frequency and intensity of exercise that cancer survivors typically engage in. METHODS: An anonymous, postal questionnaire-survey with a convenience sample of 975 cancer survivors was used. Standardised measures were used to establish fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form), QoL (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30), exercise frequency and intensity (Leisure Score Index). RESULTS: A 52.3% response rate (n = 456) was achieved. A total of 76.0% were female, with stage I (18.3%) or stage II (21.0%) breast cancer (64.4%), and 62.3% were ≥ 3 years post treatment. A total of 73.5% reported fatigue with 57.2% experiencing fatigue on a daily basis. A total of 68.1% had never been given any advice on how to manage fatigue. A total of 9.4% reported to engage in strenuous physical activity, 43.5% in moderate physical activity and 65.5% in mild physical activity. Respondents experienced difficulties with emotional, cognitive and social functioning and the symptoms of fatigue, insomnia and pain. Barriers that interfered with exercise 'often/very often' were mainly related to respondents' health and environmental factors. A total of 50.2% were interested in exercise and 52.5% felt able to exercise. Exercise facilitators, preferences and motivators provide some insight into cancer survivors' needs in terms of becoming more physically active. CONCLUSIONS: Although cancer survivors continue to experience fatigue and QoL issues long after treatment completion, over half are willing and feel able to participate in exercise. Exercise barriers were mainly health related or environmental issues, however, the main barriers reported were those that had the potential to be alleviated by exercise.