Abstract
OBJECTIVES: As the number of people living beyond cancer treatment has increased, supportive post-treatment interventions have become increasingly important. The present study investigates whether participation in the Maggie's 'Where Now?' post-cancer support programme is associated with improvements in healthy eating, quality of life, self-efficacy (confidence) or cancer worry.
METHODS: In a pre-post design, 88 people who had completed cancer treatment and were enrolled in the 7-week 'Where Now?' programme at Maggie's centres across the UK rated their diet, activity, quality of life, self-efficacy and cancer worries before and after programme participation. Programme content was coded to identify the techniques used to create change ('behaviour change techniques').
RESULTS: Programme participation was associated with significant improvements in general self-efficacy (p=0.01), self-efficacy about engaging in physical activity (p<0.01), quality of life (p<0.01) and cancer worry (p=0.04) but not with changes in healthy eating (p=0.23).
CONCLUSION: Participation in the 'Where Now?' programme is associated with significant improvements in several key psychological outcomes in people living beyond cancer. The techniques most commonly used in the programme to create change were giving participants instructions about how to perform a particular behaviour, encouraging problemsolving to overcome barriers and setting goals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care |
| Early online date | 18 Apr 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 18 Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding: This work was supported by the University of Aberdeen via research funds provided to CM and LB as part of their postgraduate studies.Acknowledgements: We thank Bethany Mills who collected study data and the staff and service users at Maggie’s who participated in this study.
Keywords
- cancer
- cancer worry
- quality of life
- self-efficacy
- survivorship
Access to Document
- Murray_etal_BMJSRPC_Post_Cancer_Treatment_AAM
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