Health and Energy Through Active Living Every Day After Cancer Intervention for Cancer Survivors

By 2026, there will be approximately 20.3 million cancer survivors in the U.S., and this population is expected to grow with improved cancer survival rates. Cancer survivors experience a myriad of side effects following treatment, including fatigue, decreased muscle mass, balance issues, decreased cognitive function, and an increased risk of comorbidities. Observational studies and randomized controlled trials suggest that physical activity (PA) is a safe and effective non-pharmacologic option for improving some of these side effects. Despite the evidence, it is estimated that at least 75% of cancer survivors do not meet PA guidelines. Interventions tailored for survivors may increase PA, but there are gaps in the literature regarding the most effective methods. Further, there are several cancers associated with physical inactivity, but most PA interventions focus on breast cancer. Additionally, many existing interventions require in-person meetings, are very resource-intensive, and may not be sustainable. Most physical activity interventions focus on the promotion of moderate-vigorous PA, ignoring the importance of decreased sedentary time and increased light PA. Accordingly, it is imperative to create more sustainable, broad-reaching PA and sedentary behavior interventions that are intended for survivors of various physical inactivity-associated cancers. The proposed one-year study will be a two-arm, randomized control intervention embedded within the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3), a prospective cohort study of cancer incidence and mortality initiated by the American Cancer Society. The proposed Health and Energy through Active Living Every Day (HEALED) intervention is intended for survivors of a cancer with an expected 5-year survival (at Stage I, II or III) of at least 45% that has a strong level of evidence for association with physical inactivity according to the 2018 PA Guidelines Advisory Committee Report (breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, multiple myeloma, and bladder). In line with social cognitive theory behavior change techniques, participants will be provided information and skills necessary to be more physically active and less sedentary after a cancer diagnosis. Materials and tools will be updated monthly through a secure website open only to participants, and include: at-home exercise demonstration videos, steps leaderboards, goal setting tools, Fitbit self-monitoring and syncing capabilities, discussion boards, success stories, infographics for exercise recommendations, etc. This intervention will add to the very minimal evidence base for PA interventions for diverse cancer survivors in a sustainable, broad-reaching manner. Further, the data resulting from this study will provide insight towards promotion of the "time-use" approach, which focuses on all of the movement behaviors (including sedentary time, light intensity physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity), which has not yet been used in interventions for survivors.