Physical activity and behaviour change for women living with metastatic breast cancer.

Abstract

Physical activity has long been recognised to be beneficial for women living with breast cancer. Most related health services and research efforts are aimed at individuals with early-stage cancer, leaving a relative lack of attention towards promoting physical activity for those with metastatic breast cancer. Recently, there has been an increase in the evidence for women living with metastatic disease that supports physical activity as both safe and effective for improving many health outcomes. To translate this into routine care, it is important to understand any unique and challenging factors that may impact physical activity as a behaviour. This thesis describes a program of research that delves into these factors using a behaviour change science approach in order to explore strategies to promote physical activity.

This thesis contains the following studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis of behaviour change interventions for physical activity and breast cancer, two qualitative interview studies (n=23) that describe factors that impact physical activity for women living with metastatic breast cancer, and a randomised trial (n=20) that evaluates the feasibility and efficacy of a physical activity behaviour change intervention for women living with metastatic breast cancer. The first chapter presents an introduction to the thesis and a summary of relevant research in this field, and the final chapter presents the overall concluding remarks of the thesis, summarises the results of the studies and offers some suggestions for future research in this field.